On the gender performance gap in economics education - A comparison of German public and private universities

Broad ranges of studies have discussed the difference in performance between men and women in relation to their economics education. The German perspective with its particular tertiary education system and decade long history of gender equality movements, however, remain under researched. By implementing two data sets, a German public university and a German private university of applied sciences, this study aims to provide to the existing literature in this regard. The datasets have been used to test, in a nationwide sample, potential gender differences in the outcome of exams in basic economics. By consisting of a total of more than 9,000 observations over nine years or 18 semesters and seven locations across Germany, the study constructs a comprehensive view of the German academic landscape. The results as well as robustness checks show that gender effects are marginal at best. Additionally, it has been shown that no significant differences exist across the difference forms of universities. The results of this broadband sample lead to the conjecture that in Germany, independent of the type of university, over the last decades gender equality in economics education has been consolidated and any observed effects are due to external factors alone.