Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51866 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5300
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We present evidence from an experiment in which groups select a leader to compete against the leaders of other groups in a real-effort task that they have all performed in the past. We find that women are selected much less often as leaders than is suggested by their individual past performance. We study three potential explanations for the underrepresentation of women, namely, gender differences in overconfidence concerning past performance, in the willingness to exaggerate past performance to the group, and in the reaction to monetary incentives. We find that men's overconfidence is the driving force behind the observed prevalence of male representation.
Subjects: 
discrimination
gender gap
glass ceiling
overconfidence
leadership
JEL: 
J71
D03
C92
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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