Culture, Institutions and the Gender Gap in Competitive Inclination: Evidence from the Communist Experiment in China

Can policy change competitive preferences? This study uses controlled laboratory 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,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Economic journal (London) Vol. 129; no. 617; pp. 509 - 552
Main Author Zhang, Y Jane
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Oxford University Press 01.01.2019
Subjects
Academic achievement
Communism
Competition
Confounding factors
Cultural factors
Culture
Economic policy
Economic theory
Ethnic groups
Fertility
Gender
Marriage
Minority & ethnic groups
Policy making
Secondary schools
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
Women
China
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Summary:Can policy change competitive preferences? This study uses controlled laboratory 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, socio-economic status and academic performance.
ISSN:0013-0133
1468-0297
DOI:10.1111/ecoj.12596