Gender Differences in Prioritizing Rewarding Tasks

We investigate gender performance differences in reaction to task-rewards (weights) variation based on the applicant's major choice in the admission exam from a selective Brazilian university. Our data allows us to control for applicants' major-choice self-selection issues flexibly and to follow applicants in the formal labor market several years after the admission exam. We show that females' performance decreases relative to males' when facing a larger-reward subject due to gender differences in confidence and exam strategy. However, our findings cast doubt on whether gender differences in prioritizing rewarding tasks in an exam environment can explain the gender wage gap