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Mind the absent gap: Gender-specific competitiveness in non-professional sports

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  • Pikos, Anna Katharina
  • Straub, Alexander

Abstract

There is wide evidence for gender differences in competitiveness and performance under pressure from experimental economics and single-sex professional sports. We analyze these differences in a sport with direct gender competition. Our unique data consists of over 500,000 observations from around 11,000 German ninepin bowling games of which around 15% are from mixed-gender leagues. Men perform better against women on average but this is fully explained by differences in ability. Our results are robust to instrumenting for opposite gender using the sex composition of the opponent team. Surprisingly, gender differences in tight situations do not seem to play a role.

Suggested Citation

  • Pikos, Anna Katharina & Straub, Alexander, 2019. "Mind the absent gap: Gender-specific competitiveness in non-professional sports," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-652, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    • Handle: RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-652
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; gender competition; sports economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • Z22 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Labor Issues

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