How important is girls’ ‘Biological Head Start’ in explaining gender differences in education and the labour market?
研究利用调查数据与登记数据，分析青春期生理成熟度的性别差异能否解释教育表现和劳动力市场结果的性别差距，发现女孩的生理领先优势对学习有长期累积效应。
We investigate whether gender differences in physical maturity during adolescence can explain gender differences in educational and labour market performance. Using survey data with measures of physical maturity linked to register data on education and labour market outcomes, we analyse the importance of physical maturity for gender differences in both the short and long terms. The results show that gender differences in physical maturity partially explain both the gender gap in educational performance (in girls’ favour) and the gender gap in labour market outcomes at age 33 (in boys’ favour). Taken together, the results suggest that girls’ physical head start gives them an advantage in the schooling system and that this advantage continues long into adulthood, indicating that the head start has long-lasting cumulative effects on learning. • Girls reach puberty earlier than boys. • Gender differences in maturity explain part of the gender gap in school performance. • The biological head start also explains part of later school outcomes and completed education in adulthood. • The results suggest that head start has long-lasting cumulative effects on learning.