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Lenka Fiala, John Eric Humphries, Juanna S Joensen, Uditi Karna, John A List, Gregory Veramendi

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Leveraging data from Sweden and Chicago, we study the educational pipeline for STEM and economics majors to better understand the determinants of the gender gap, and when these determinants arise. We present three findings. First, females are less likely to select STEM courses in high school, despite equal or better preparation. Second, there are important gender differences in preferences and beliefs, even conditional on ability. Third, early differences in preferences and beliefs explain more of the gaps in high school sorting than other candidate variables. High school sorting then explains a large portion of the gender difference in college majors.

Michael G. Cuna, Lenka Fiala, Min Sok Lee, John A. List, Sutanuka Roy

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This study examines how mothers' risk and ambiguity preferences affect early childhood investments and outcomes by assessing over 6,000 mothers in Rajasthan, India. Results show that more risk and ambiguity averse mothers make greater investments in their children's nutrition between ages 0-6. These investments correlate with superior cognitive and non-cognitive skills in children, even after controlling for socioeconomic factors. Notably, higher maternal risk and ambiguity aversion can mitigate negative impacts of socioeconomic disadvantages (maternal illiteracy, belonging to historically discriminated groups, limited media access) on all measures of early-life skills, highlighting the importance of understanding preferences in addressing inequities.