Are There Gender Differences in Strategic Reasoning? Evidence from a Beauty Contest Game in China

This paper uses a beauty contest game to test the gender differences in strategic reasoning. I conducted two experiments in China: one in a classroom setting with student subjects and the other online with the general population. In the first experiment, I found evidence of gender differences in strategic reasoning: males entered significantly lower numbers in the low-stake treatment and were more likely to be high-strategic types than females in both the non-monetary incentive treatment and the low-stake treatment. I did not find a gender difference in the high-stake treatment. In addition, subjects with higher course grades entered significantly lower numbers in all treatments with monetary incentives. In the second experiment, no gender differences were observed; this paper will explain the possible reasons behind the different findings