Abstract:
In most countries, women earn less than men and are underrepresented in certain fields and top positions. From the supply side, the dearth of women can be due to the suboptimal supply of qualified individuals (Niederle and Vesterlund, 2007; Niederle, Segal and Vesterlund, 2013; Leibbrandt, Flory and List, 2014). A possible channel explaining the suboptimal supply of qualified individuals is biased beliefs about own ability or, in other words, lack of confidence on the ability to succeed in certain tasks or fields. By conducting a field experiment with students preparing to take an admission to college exam in Colombia, this project seeks to assess whether individuals have biased beliefs about own ability / performance and whether these biases differ by gender. Furthermore, I will test to what extent feedback can correct biased priors and affect: (i) effort (number of hours studying for a test), (ii) performance in practice tests, and (iii) career aspirations (majors considered / declared).