Culture, Institutions and the Gender Gap in Competitive Inclination: Evidence from the Communist Experiment in China
研究通过实验室实验，比较了受共产主义制度变革影响和未受影响的族群在竞争倾向上的性别差距，发现外生制度变革可能提高女性竞争倾向，但无法完全消除性别差距。
Can policy change competitive preferences? This study uses controlled lab settings to compare the gender gap in competitive inclination in ethnic groups exposed and exempted from communist institutional reforms that have radically changed the lives of women in China in the areas of marriage, education, work, and fertility. Results suggest that exogenously imposed reforms may increase female competitive inclination, although they do not eliminate the gender gap in all cultural contexts. Potential confounding factors are minimised through random selection of subjects from the same high school, resulting in similarity across ethnic groups in demographics, socioeconomic status, and academic performance.