The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?
Abstract
We examine whether men and women of the same ability differ in their selection into a competitive environment. Participants in a laboratory experiment solve a real task, first under a noncompetitive piece rate and then a competitive tournament incentive scheme. Although there are no gender differences in performance, men select the tournament twice as much as women when choosing their compensation scheme for the next performance. While 73 percent of the men select the tournament, only 35 percent of the women make this choice. This gender gap in tournament entry is not explained by performance, and factors such as risk and feedback aversion only playa negligible role. Instead, the tournament-entry gap is driven by men being more overconfident and by gender differences in preferences for performing in a competition. The result is that women shy away from competition and men embrace it.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Consistent with this view, numerous studies fi nd that women exhibit lower levels of overcon fi dence than men (Barber & Odean, 2001; Dean & Ortoleva, 2019; Niederle & Vesterlund, 2007; Waldman, 1994).”
From Talking the talk, not walking the walk: The coevolution of overconfidence and loss aversion (2026) · cites this paper as Niederle & Vesterlund, 2007
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments
Fischbacher, U. (2007) · Experimental Economics · doi:10.1007/s10683-006-9159-4 · Cited by 9,524
A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance
Steele, C. M. (1997) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.52.6.613 · Cited by 6,770
Gender Differences in Preferences
Croson, R., & Gneezy, U. (2009) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.47.2.448 · Cited by 5,694
Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment
Barber, B. M., & Odean, T. (2001) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355301556400 · Cited by 5,276
Gender differences in risk taking: a meta-analysis
Byrnes, J. P., Miller, D. C., & Schafer, W. D. (1999) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.3.367 · Cited by 3,723
Calibration of probabilities: the state of the art to 1980
Lichtenstein, S., Fischhoff, B., & Phillips, L. D. (1982) · Judgment under Uncertainty · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511809477.023 · Cited by 1,967
Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians
Goldin, C. D., & Rouse, C. E. (2000) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.90.4.715 · Cited by 1,727
Which is the fair sex? Gender differences in altruism.
Andreoni, J., & Vesterlund, L. (2001) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355301556419 · Cited by 1,427
Self-citation2. Public Goods: A Survey of Experimental Research
Ledyard, J. O. (1995) · The Handbook of Experimental Economics · doi:10.1515/9780691213255-004 · Cited by 1,033
Chapter 48 Race and gender in the labor market
Altonji, J. G., & Blank, R. M. (1999) · Handbook of Labor Economics · doi:10.1016/s1573-4463(99)30039-0 · Cited by 981
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Beyer Sylvia, 1990, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 970
- Bowden, 1997, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 157
- Black Sandra, 2001, American Economic Review, 831
- Dweck, Carol S., Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development (Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 2000).
- Gneezy Uri, 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1074
- Goodman, Irene F., Christine M. Cunningham, and Cathy Lachapelle, "The Women's Experience in College Engineering," Goodman Research Group, Inc., Cambridge, MA, 2002.
- Hyde Janet S, 1990, Psychological Bulletin, 155
- Larson, Lia C. "When Girls Stop Competing Against Boys: An Experimental Analysis of the Competitive Behavior of Young Children," Harvard Honors Thesis, 2005.
- Lundeberg Mary A, 1994, Journal of Educational Psychology, 121
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 1,001–1,005 of 1,005
The thrill of victory: women and sport shopping.
O’Donnell, K. A., Strebel, J., & Mortimer, G. (2016) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.10.005 · Cited by 19
Testing the social competition hypothesis of depression using a simple economic game
Kupferberg, A., Hager, O. M., Fischbacher, U., Brändle, L. S., Haynes, M., & Hasler, G. (2016) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.001362 · Cited by 20
Adolescents’ dual affective response to dance in training, grading, and competition
Szabo, A., Takács, D., Magyar, M., Soós, I., Boros, S., & Bősze, J. (2020) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-018-9800-3 · Cited by 2
Talking the talk, not walking the walk: The coevolution of overconfidence and loss aversion
Dawson, C., & de Meza, D. (2026) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000644 · Cited by 2
College Gap Time and Academic Outcomes for Women: Evidence from Missionaries
Marchant, M., & Wikle, J. S. (2023) · Education Finance and Policy · doi:10.1162/edfp_a_00389
Metadata
- Authors
- Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L.
- Affiliations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- ORCID
- Niederle, M.
- Venue
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-08-01
- Volume
- 122
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1067-1101
- ISSN
- 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-4650
- OpenAlex
- W2890421732
- Cited by
- 3,186
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 204 · 2024: 251 · 2023: 235 · 2022: 254 · 2021: 221 · 2020: 226 · 2019: 209 · 2018: 221 · 2017: 173 · 2016: 150 · 2015: 171 · 2014: 154 · 2013: 131 · 2012: 102
- FWCI
- 197.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
- Keywords
- gender differences, competition, tournament entry, tournament incentives, piece rates, overconfidence, risk aversion, compensation systems
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
