Abstract:

Do male students in principles of economics courses outperform female students? The literature on economic education is replete with studies suggesting that male performance – as measured by final course grades or grades on standardized tests (e.g., Test of Understanding in College Economics) – exceeds female performance. The rationales for the gender gap include sociological and cultural factors, student-specific attributes, as well as discipline-specific characteristics. Recent studies, however, indicate a narrowing of this gender gap when additional attributes such as personality traits, expectations, and/or motivation are included in the traditional education production function. Moreover, Johnson et al. (2014) argue that many of the explanations for the gender gap no longer exist (e.g., female inferiority in mathematics) and suggest a re-evaluation of the gender gap in economics, particularly given the gains by women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields.

Using a sample of students from principles of economics courses taught at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, this study investigates the relationship between performance and the gender gap accounting for several different measures of ability and attributes. Adopting the VARK (visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic) inventory as a representation of student learning styles, the authors find that the gender gap is reversed; female students outperform male students.

Keywords:

Gender gap, learning styles, teaching economics.