Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279323 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10572
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
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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