Mitigating the Gender Gap in the Willingness to Compete: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
通过随机实地实验，评估培养毅力的教育干预对儿童竞争意愿的影响，发现干预消除了性别差距并带来效率提升，机制可能是增强了女孩对未来表现的乐观态度。
Abstract We evaluate the impact on competitiveness of a randomized educational intervention that aims to foster grit, a skill that is highly predictive of achievement. The intervention is implemented in elementary schools, and we measure its impact using a dynamic competition task with interim performance feedback. We find that when children are exposed to a worldview that emphasizes the role of effort in achievement and encourages perseverance, the gender gap in the willingness to compete disappears. We show that the elimination of this gap implies significant efficiency gains. We also provide suggestive evidence on a plausible causal mechanism that runs through the positive impact of enhanced grit on girls' optimism about their future performance.