What Explains the Gender Gap Reversal in Education? [electronic resource] : The Role of the Tail Hypothesis / Bossavie, Laurent.
Material type: TextPublication details: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, 2018Description: 1 online resource (60 p.)Subject(s): Access & Equity in Basic Education | Economics of Education | Education | Education For All | Educational Attainment | Educational Populations | Gender | Gender & Education | Gender Gap | Girls' Education | Students | Technology Industry | Technology Innovation | Test Scores | TestingAdditional physical formats: Bossavie, Laurent.: What Explains the Gender Gap Reversal in Education? The Role of the Tail HypothesisOnline resources: Click here to access online Abstract: The gender gap reversal in educational attainment is ubiquitous in high-income countries, as well as in a growing share of low- and middle-income countries. To account for the reversal, this paper proposes a theoretical framework in which the interplay between the distributions of academic aptitudes and changes in the net benefits of schooling over time affect the gender composition of those getting more schooling. The framework is used to formulate and test alternative hypotheses to explain the reversal. The paper introduces the tail dynamics hypothesis, which builds on the lower dispersion of academic achievement among females observed empirically. It also studies the mean dynamics hypothesis, which is based on previous literature. Both hypotheses can explain the reversal in this framework. However, the assumption behind the tail hypothesis is better supported by the data. Its predictions are also consistent with gender differences in Scholastic Achievement Test score dynamics and in international test score distributions that cannot be explained by previous theories.The gender gap reversal in educational attainment is ubiquitous in high-income countries, as well as in a growing share of low- and middle-income countries. To account for the reversal, this paper proposes a theoretical framework in which the interplay between the distributions of academic aptitudes and changes in the net benefits of schooling over time affect the gender composition of those getting more schooling. The framework is used to formulate and test alternative hypotheses to explain the reversal. The paper introduces the tail dynamics hypothesis, which builds on the lower dispersion of academic achievement among females observed empirically. It also studies the mean dynamics hypothesis, which is based on previous literature. Both hypotheses can explain the reversal in this framework. However, the assumption behind the tail hypothesis is better supported by the data. Its predictions are also consistent with gender differences in Scholastic Achievement Test score dynamics and in international test score distributions that cannot be explained by previous theories.
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