Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: Recent research has shown that women shy away from competition more often than men. We evaluate experimentally three alternative policy interventions to promote women in competitions: Quotas, Preferential Treatment, and Repetition of the Competition unless a critical number of female winners is reached. We find that Quotas and Preferential Treatment encourage women to compete significantly more often than in a control treatment, while efficiency in selecting the best candidates as winners is not worse. The level of cooperation in a post-competition teamwork task is even higher with successful policy interventions. Hence, policy measures promoting women can have a double dividend.

Keywords: Competition; gender gap; experiment; affirmative action; teamwork; coordination

JEL-codes: C91; D03

35 pages, May 18, 2010

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