Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/30756 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 2959
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Between 1972 and 1978 U.S. high schools rapidly increased their female athletic participation rates - to approximately the same level as their male athletic participation rates - in order to comply with Title IX, a policy change that provides a unique quasi-experiment in female athletic participation. This paper examines the causal implications of this expansion in female sports participation by using variation in the level of boys' athletic participation across states before Title IX to instrument for the change in girls' athletic participation. Analysis of differences in outcomes across states in changes between pre- and post-cohorts reveals that a 10-percentage point rise in state-level female sports participation generates a 1 percentage point increase in female college attendance and a 1 to 2 percentage point rise in female labor force participation. Furthermore, greater opportunities to play sports leads to greater female participation in previously male-dominated occupations, particularly in high-skill occupations.
JEL: 
I20
I21
I28
J16
J18
J21
J22
J24
J44
K30
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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