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David Autor, David Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik, Jeffrey Roth, Melanie Wasserman, Males at the Tails: How Socioeconomic Status Shapes the Gender Gap, The Economic Journal, Volume 133, Issue 656, November 2023, Pages 3136–3152, https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead069
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Abstract
We document that the female advantage in childhood behavioural and academic outcomes is driven by gender gaps at the extremes of the outcome distribution. Using unconditional quantile regression, we show that family socioeconomic status particularly influences boys’ relative to girls’ outcomes at the lower tails of the outcome distribution, precisely where gender gaps are most pronounced. These relationships are not explained by school or neighbourhood factors, or parents’ differential treatment of boys. The disproportionate effect of socioeconomic status on boys at the tails substantially contributes to the gender gap in high school dropout.