Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282102 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 410
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition, München und Berlin
Abstract: 
How do men and women differ in their persistence after experiencing failure in a competitive environment? We tackle this question by combining a large online experiment (N=2,086) with machine learning. We find that when losing is unequivocally due to merit, both men and women exhibit a significant decrease in subsequent tournament entry. However, when the prior tournament is unfair, i.e., a loss is no longer necessarily based on merit, women are more discouraged than men. These results suggest that transparent meritocratic criteria may play a key role in preventing women from falling behind after experiencing a loss.
Subjects: 
competitiveness
gender
fairness
machine learning
online experiment
JEL: 
C90
D91
J16
C14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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