ESSAYS ON LABOR ECONOMICS

ESSAYS ON LABOR ECONOMICS
CAI XIQIAN
( B.A. XIAMEN UNIVERSITY,
M.A. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE )
A THESIS SUBMITTED
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
2015
Declaration
I hereby declare that this thesi s is my original work and it has been written
by me in its entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information
which have been used in t h e t h esi s .
This thesis has also not been sub m i tt ed for any degree in any university
previously.
Signed:
Date: 25 May, 2015
i
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank to my Ph D advisors, Assoc. Prof.
Hu Guangzhou, Alber t and Lu Yi, for supporting me during these past four
years. It would not have been possible for me to complete my thesis without
their supervision and collaboration. A/P. Hu Guangzhou, Albert is a very
nice advisor. He has given me the freedom to pursue various projects without
objection a n d also provided insightful discussions about the research. A/P.
Lu Yi is always available and wil l i n g to hel p . He shows great patience to
me, and guided me through each step of research. Moreover, he is a great
life mentor, and always gives invaluable suggestions on academic and personal
development matters. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to both
of them. It is my honor to be under their superv i si o n .
Secondly, I would like to tha n k Assoc. Pr of. Davin CHOR, Alberto SAL-

VO, Dr . Gong Jie, Jessica PAN, and Zhong Songfa, for thei r generous guid-
ances and valuable co m m ents on my work. I would also like to thank Assoc.
Prof. Luo Xiao, Liu Haoming, Zeng Jingli, Dr. Song Changcheng, Yi Junjian,
and Zhu Shenghao for their h el p and suggestions during my study at NUS.
Thirdly, I would like to thank all my Ph.D colleagues for making my stay
in NUS that much more pl e asu r a b l e. Thanks Xie Huihua, Zhou Yinke, Zhu
Lianming, Li Yunong, Mun Lai Yoke, Liu Xuyua n , Sun Yifei, Shen Bo, Shao
ii
Lei, Yang Guangpu, Yang Songtao, Wang Jianguang, Liu Bin, Zeng Ting, Lu
Yunfeng, and others for all the insp i r a ti o na l c onversations and unselfish help.
Last but not th e least, I would especially th an k my fam i l y, especially my
grandparents and parents fo r their unparalleled love and constant support
and my wife Lin Yujia, who is always there for me with her unwavering love
and encouragement. Their l ove and support have accompanied me along th e
journey and hel ped me get cl os e to my dream . This thesis is dedicated to
them.
iii
Contents
1 Gender Gap under Pressure: Performance and Reaction to
Shocks 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Institutional Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 Data and Descriptive Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Gender Gap in Performance on Mock Exam vs. Gaokao . . . 13
1.4.1 Empirical Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4.3 Gender Differences in Effort Provision . . . . . . . . . 19
1.4.4 Do Males and Females Respo n d Differently to Pressure? 25
1.5 Gender Gap in Reaction to Shocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.5.1 Are the Results Driven by Unobservables? . . . . . . . 32

1.5.2 Placebo Tests - Role of Ext er n al Shocks . . . . . . . . 37
1.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
iv
2 Recover Overnight? Work Interruption and Worker Produc-
tivity 42
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.2.1 Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.2.2 A Stylized Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.3 Estimation Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.3.1 Data, Variables, and Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.3.2 Identifying Assumption and Validity Checks . . . . . . 57
2.4 Empirical Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.4.1 Validity Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.4.2 Economic Magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.4.3 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.4.4 Additional Results: Heterogeneity and Social Comparison 71
2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3 The Impact of Tempera t ure on Worker Productivity 75
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.2 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.3 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.3.1 Daily Productivity Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
v
3.3.2 Weather and Air Quality Index Data . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4 Estimation Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.5.1 Main Productivity Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.5.2 Robustness Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Appendices
137
Appendix of Chapter One
137
vi
Figures and Tables for Chapter One
94
Figures and Tables for Chapter Two
105
Figures and Tables for Chapter Three
112
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bibliography
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
124
Appendix of Chapter Two
144
Summary
This thesis consists of three independent chapters.
1
The first chapter examines the gender gap in examination performance in
response to competitive and performance shocks. By using a u n i q u e dataset
from the College Entrance Examinatio n in China, We find that females per-
form worse than males and are m or e r esponse to shocks under pressure.
The second chapter investigates the effect of interruption on workers’ subse-
quent productivity using plausibly exogenous incidents of machine breakdown.
Using a dataset from a plastic printing company in China, we find that individ-
ual worker productivity declines following a workday with machine breakdown.

The last chapter provides the first evidence about how temperature affect-
s worker productivity from a manufacturing firm in a non-climate-controlled
environment in China. Using the exogenous day-to-day variations in temper-
ature, we find an inverted U-shaped effect of the daily maximum temperat u re
on worker produ ct i v i ty, and short-run avoidance behavior to tempe ra t u r es
through absenteeism.
1
The first chapter is co-authored with Professor Lu Yi, Jessica Pan and Zhong Songfa,
the second chapter is co-auth or ed with Professor Gong Jie , Lu Yi, and Zhong Songfa, while
the third chapter is co-authored with Profes sor Yi Lu
vii
List of Figures
1.1 Distributions of Female and Male Performance on the Mock
Exam and Gaokao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2 Relationship between Day 1 Afternoon Exam Score and Morn-
ing Exam Score by Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.3 Relationship between Day 1 Afternoon Exam Score and Morn-
ing Exam Score by Gender and Distance from Reference Cutoff 33
2.1 Share of Machines that Broke Down (October 2012 March 2014) 56
2.2 Distribution of Share of Machines that Broke Down . . . . . . 56
2.3 Distribution of Number of Machines Used by a Worker . . . . 58
2.4 Placebo: Coefficie nts from Randomly Distributed Interruptions 66
3.1 Standardized Average Productivity For Each Of The Products 83
3.2 Variation In Product i vi ty By Job Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.3 Variation In Product i vi ty By Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.4 Variation In Product i vi ty By Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
viii
3.5 Daily Temperature, AQI And The Concentration Levels Of
Each Individual Pollutents, By Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.6 Relationship Between Temperature And Labor Produc ti v ity . 87

3.7 Relationship Between AQI And Labor Productivity . . . . . . 88
3.8 Robustness Checks- Same Machine and Same Product . . . . 89
3.9 Robustness Checks- Individual*Machine*Product FE . . . . . 90
3.10 Robustness Checks- Without Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.11 Robustness Checks- First Time Using . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.12 Robustness Checks- Absence Yesterday . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.13 Robustness Checks- Without Typhoon Events . . . . . . . . . 91
ix
List of Tables
1.1 Summary Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2 Gender Gap in Mock Exam and Gaokao Scores . . . . . . . . 15
1.3 Regression Estimates of the Gender Gap in Performance . . . 18
1.4 Regression Estimates of the Gender Gap in Performance by
Initial Performance on Mock Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.5 Mock Exam Reference Cut-offs for ea ch University Tier In 2008 23
1.6 Fraction of Students in Fujian Scoring above each of the Refer-
ence Cut-offs in the Mock Exam in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.7 Fraction of Students in Anxi Scoring above each of the Reference
Cut-offs in the Mock Exam in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.8 Is the Gender Gap in Performance Larger where it Matters More? 25
1.9 Do Females Underperform w h er e it Matters More? . . . . . . 28
1.10 Gender Difference in Afternoon Performance in Response to
Relative Performance on Morning Exam on Day 1 . . . . . . . 31
x
1.11 Gender Difference in Afternoon Performance in Response to
Relative Performance on Morning Exam on Day 1 - Positive vs.
Negative Shocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.1 Effect of Machine Breakdown on Workers Subseq u ent Produc-
tivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.2 Tests on Proficiency and Emotio n al Reactions . . . . . . . . . 69

2.3 Heterogeneous Effects and Social Comp a ri s on . . . . . . . . . 72
3.1 Summary Statistics For The M ai n Worker Characteristics . . . 82
3.2 Summary Statistics For The Weather Elements And Air Quality
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.3 The Correlati on sAn d Partial C or r el a ti o ns Between AQI And
Each Of The Individual Pollutents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.4 The Distribution Of Temperature An d The Percentage Of Pro-
ductivity Increment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
xi
Chapter 1
Gender Gap under Pressure:
Performance and Reaction to
Shocks
1.1 Introduction
A l a r ge number of experimental studies suggest that men and women respond
differently to competitive pressures. These studies document that women ap-
pear to systemati ca l l y underperform relati ve to men in competitive settings
and that women may simply prefer to opt-out from competition (for exam-
ples, see Bertrand , 2010, Gneezy, Niederle and Ru st i chini, 2003, Gneezy and
Rustichini, 2004, Niederle and Vesterlund, 2007, 2011). These studies posit
that gender d i ffe re n ces in performance and attitudes toward competition may
explain an important part of the ge n d er gap in education a l choices and l a bor
market outcomes (Buser, Niederle and Oosterbeek, 2014).
A growing line of research has attempted to assess whether such perfor-
1
mance differences in respond to competition exist in real-world settings. In-
terestingly, the results are somewhat mixed. Earlier studies by Lavy (2013)
and Paserman ( 2 01 0) examine gender d i ff er en ces in the perfor m an ce of high
school teachers and professional tennis players, respectively, and find little evi-
dence that women perform worse in more competitive settings. More recently,

a number of studies focusing on rea l -world academic settings show t h a t men
appear to outperform women when co m petitive pressures a re higher, where-
as the reverse holds true in less competitive setting s (Azmat, Calsamiglia and
Iriberri, 2014, Morin, 2013, Ors, Palomino and Peyrache, 2013, Attali, Neeman
and Schlosser, 2011, and Jurajda and Munich, 2011).
In this paper, we utilize a unique dataset from China’s National College
Entrance Examination (Gaokao) and an arguably clean er empirical setup to
examine the extent and mechanisms through which competitive pressure af-
fects the gender gap in academic performance. Having estab l i sh ed that women
tend to underperform on the high-stakes national Gaokao relative to the low-
stakes mock examination held two months earl i er , we then turn to a different,
but related question. In particular, we examine whether males and females
react differently to performance shocks on an earlier exam and how these d-
ifferences may interact with the degree of competitive pressure faced. The
latter question is also im portant in th e literature on gender gaps in perfor-
2
mance as there is incr ea si n g evidence that women may be less confident and
less resistant to negative shocks.
1
The Gaokao is widely regard e d as one of the most competi t i ve examina-
tions in the world - it is practically the only route to admission into universities
of higher education and further success in the test- or i ented education system
of China. Furthermore, the number of exam takers typically exceed the avail-
able places for higher education. The admission rate for candidates sitting for
the Gaokao is approximately 75% and students’ performance on the two-day
examination is typically the sole criteria used to determine their placement
into one of China’s nearly two thousand colleges. Each college has separate
cut-offs that determine whether students can qualify for various academic pro-
grams and entry into a particular college and major is determined almost
exclusively by stud ents’ performance on the Gaokao. In fact, the examination

is so important that a couple of months prior to the actual examination, each
province typically runs a mock examination to ensure that the examiners a r e
familiar with the examination protocol and to allow students to g au g e their
preparedness and relative performan c e on the exam.
Drawing on a dataset that comprises the universe of Gaokao takers i n Anxi
1
For examples, see Roberts and Nolen-Ho ek se ma, 1989 and a article in the The Atlantic
( />359815/).
3
County in 2008, we are able to d i r ectl y observe the performance of the same
individual in the Gaokao and the earlier mock examin a ti o n . By comp a r i n g the
gender difference in performance in what is essentially the same examination
in a high and low-stakes sett i n g , we are able to cleanly estimate of the effect
of competiti ve pressures on the gender gap in perfor m an c e in an important
real world setting.
2
Consistent with previous evidence, we find that males
are significa ntly more likely to outperfo r m females in the h i gh - st akes Gaokao
relative to the low-stakes mock examination. Fu rt h erm o r e, we also exploit
additional variation in stakes, within gender, to examine whether the observed
effects are driven by females underper fo r m in g in high-stakes, high pressure
settings, or males improving their performance when the stakes are higher.
Next, we extend the previous literature by analyzing whether there is a
gender difference in the reaction t o performance shocks. This is also an im-
portant que st i on in the literature on gender gaps in performance as there is
increasing evidence that women are less confident (and men tend to be over-
confident) and may react more aversely to negative feedback than their male
counterparts (Rober ts and Nolen-Hoeksema, 19 89 and Goldin, 2013). This
lower degree of confidence and resistance to negative s h ocks may be anoth-
2

In our setting, relative to the mock examination, the Gaokao is both higher-stakes
and more competitive (students compete for a limited number of slots to qualify for their
academic program of choice). We do not distinguish the role of exam stakes and the degree of
competition and describ e the Gaokao as “higher stakes”, “more competitive” and entailing
a greater degree of “competitive pressure” interchangeably.
4
er reason as to why women are more likely to opt-out of competitive fields
(Niederle and Veste rl u n d , 2007). We exploit the fact that the indi v i d u a l sub-
ject components of the examinations are spread out over two days t o explore
whether there is a gender difference in the reactio n t o performance shocks in
an earlier exam. To our knowledge, this q u est i o n remains unexplored in the
literature.
Our paper is closely related to a recent literature that examines whether
men a n d women respond differently to competitive pressures and test stakes
in real-world settings. Like our paper, most of t h ese papers focus on acad em i c
performance and exp l o i t differences in th e nature of the test or test setting -
for example, how competitive the tests are, the level of stakes involved and
the grading scheme used, to examine whether the relati ve performance of fe-
males is affected by the nature of the test. For example, Or s, Palomino and
Peyrache (2013) show that females outperform males in a less compet i ti ve na-
tional exam, but for the same cohort of students, males outperform females in
the highly selective competitive entrance exam for admission to a top business
school in France. Morin (2013) exploits a legislative change in Ontario that
exogenously increased competition for university gr ad es and documents that
among students affected by the change, male performance improved relative
to females. Azmat, Calsami g l i a and Iriberri (2014) utilizes variation in test
5
stakes across different exams that Spanish high school students are required
to sit for throughout the year and show that males tend to outperform females
when test stakes are higher.

Our setting has a number of features that differentiate it from previous
studies. First, the same e xa m i n a ti o n board sets and implements bot h the
high and low-stakes exams and the coverage of the t est material is identical in
both settings.
3
Second, as the Gaokao is t h e main requ i r em e nt for admission
into all colleges in China, there is limi t ed sample selection of individuals into
the actual high-stakes test based on their performance on the low-stakes test.
This also ameliorates potential sample selection concerns that individuals with
a greater distaste for competition may choose not to participate in the high-
stakes examination. Third, we are able to expl oi t variation in the perceived
stakes within gender to provide some suggestive evidence of the mechanisms
that lead to female underperformance in more competitive settings. Finally,
our paper also provides novel evidence documenting gender differences in the
responsiveness to performance shocks on an earlier exam.
The rest of the paper proceeds a s follows. The next secti o n describes th e
institutional background of the Gaokao in China. Section 1.3 outlines the
3
In previous studies (e.g. Ors, Palomino and Peyrache, 2013, Azmat, Calsamiglia and
Iriberri, 2014), the low-stakes and high-stakes settings considered typically involve diff er ent
testing strategies, material and timing, which might conflate gender differences in the re-
sponse to high vs. low-stakes with gender differences in the skills required in the high vs.
low-stakes settings.
6
data used and the descriptive statistics. The results on the gender gap in
performance on the Gaokao relative to the mock examination are presented
in Section 1.4. Section 1.5 examines gender differences in the reaction to
performance shocks. Section 1.6 concludes.
1.2 Institutional Background
The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as

Gaokao, is an annual two or three day examina t i on that is a pre-requisite for
entrance into almost all institutions of higher education at th e undergraduate
level in China .
4
There are different tiers of universities in China, namely
key universities (Tier 1), regular universities (sometimes further subdivided
into two different tiers - Tier 2 and Tier 3), and technical colleges, and the
differences among them are mostly based on ranking of the intuitions and the
duration of the programs (Davey, De Lian and Higgins, 2007).
The Gaokao is ultimately under the control of the Ministry of Education
and was once administered uniformly across the country. Starting in 2001,
some p r ovinces or direct-controlled municipalities arranged separate exam pa-
pers while others still adopted the nati on a l exam papers. The most commonly
4
For example, in 2006, 9.5 million people appli ed for tertiary education entry in China,
of which 93% were scheduled to take the national entrance exam. The remaining applicants
were either exempted from the standardized exams (0.3%) or scheduled to take other types
of standardized exams.
7
adopted examinatio n system across the provinces is the “3+X” system - “3”
represents t h e three compulsory su bjects: Chinese, Mathematics and English
(each accounting for 150/750 of the total score) and “X” represents the com-
bined science subjects comprising physics, chemistry and biology for students
on the science track, or combined arts subjects of history, geography and pol-
itics for students on the arts and social sciences track (accounting for 300/750
of the total score).
5
All students, regardless of stream, sit for the same Chinese
and English exam. Th e coverage of the Math exam is d i ffer ent for students
in the science vs. arts stream. The “3+ X” system is typically held over two

days in June in the foll owing ord er : Chinese (Day 1, morning), Mathemat i cs
(Day 1, afternoon), Combined subjects (Day 2, morning) an d English (Day 2,
afternoon).
Two months prior to th e Gaokao, a formal mock examination, adminis-
tered by the province, is usually held to allow students to get a sense of the
examination and their relative standing within the province. The mock exam-
ination results are released about one week after st u dents sit for the exam and
the Department of Education in each province also releases the province-level
distribution of test scores as well as a set of reference cutoffs for each of the
four university tiers based on the proportion of students who were a d m i tt ed
5
Students cho os e to be in the science stream or arts and social sc ie nc es stream in the
beginning of the second year of high school.
8
into each university type in th e previous year. Students usually sit fo r the
examination in th e i r last year of senior high school, although there has been
no age restrictio n since 2001. In different provinces, students either apply for
universities prior to the Gaokao, after the Gaokao, or after they have learnt
about their estimated scores based on the mock Gaokao examination and their
estimated rank in the province.
The Gaokao is highly competitive. It is commonly described as the “world’s
toughest ex am ” due to the intense pressure and com petition that students are
subject to. The Gaokao is virtually the only path for Ch i n es e students t o
be admitted into universities and the number of exam takers typically exceed
the available places for higher education. For example, in 2014, there were
9.39 milli o n test takers vyin g for about 7 million college spots.
6
. Furthermore,
the 2000 or so universities i n China are classified into four different tiers,
with cu t off points to determine whether students can qualify for each t ier of

universities. Within each tier, each college also has a separate minimum exam
score required for admission. It is estimated that less than 10% of candidates
enroll into the top tier universities (key universities) and only less than 0.2% of
exam takers will gain admittance into Chi n a ’ s top five universities (Economist,
6
See: />gaokao-weekend
9
2012).
7
It is a national consensus that getting into a better university via the
Gaokao greatly enhances an individ u a l ’ s chances to obtain a better job i n
China’s fiercely competitive job market.
Due to its import an c e and co m petitiveness, the Gaokao imposes enormous
pressure on test takers, as well as their parents and teachers. It is very common
for students to spend hours studying for the Gaokao after returning hom e from
ten hours of schooling, with little or no break on the weekends. Many schools
dedicate the entire senior year of high school to preparing students for the
exam. It is common to see astonishing new reports relat ed to the Gaokao in
the local and international media. For example, it was reported that some
girls took contraceptives or received injections to prevent the onset of their
menstrual cycle during the week of the exam.
8
1.3 Data and Descriptive Statistics
Our data consists of test scores and demographic information for the universe
of Gaokao test takers as well as the test scores for all first-time test takers who
sat for the mock examination i n Anxi, a county of Fujian Province, in 2008.
9
7
See: />8
/>9

We are only able to utiliz e data from a single year as prior to 2008, the mock exam
data was unavailable. Post-2008, the dissemi n at ion of exam results was centralized at the
province level, thus, we did not have access to the Gaokao data. 2008 was the only year
that we were able to merge t h e individual-level mock exam data to the Gaokao data.
10
Appendix I provides some background information on the social and econom-
ic characteristics of Anxi county an d Fujian province. The 2008 Provincial
Mock Examination of Fujian was held in mid -Ap r i l and the Gaokao was held
in mid-June. The province administered both the mock examinatio n as well
as the Gaokao, therefore, the mock examinat i o n was a good indicati o n of the
degree of difficulty and subject material covered by the actual examination.
Furthermore, the Department of Education in Fujian uses the mock exami-
nation to determine the reference cutoff scores for each of the different tiers
of universities based on the proportion of students eligible for each tier in the
previous year.
10
Although Gaokao takers in Fujian typically apply to universi-
ties after they learn their actual scores and the actual cutoff points, the mock
examination is taken seriously by students as a way to estimate their relative
rank in the province and to ascertain th e likely tier of university that they will
qualify for.
11
Our dat ase t was constructed by merging the mock ex am i n a t i on scores to
the Gaokao scores using each test-taker’s name. Individuals with the same
first and last name were dropped as they could not be uniquely identified.
10
Appendix Table 1.1 lists the score cutoffs in the 2007 and 2008 Gaokao in Fujian province
as well as the proportion of students that meet the cutoffs for admission into each university
tier.
11

Our discussion in Section 1.4.2 highlights that the reference cutoffs are indee d informa-
tive about the fraction of students who are eventually eligible for each university tier based
on the actual Gaokao scores.
11
From the Gaokao sample, we further dropped a small number of individuals
for whom we were not able to identify whether they were in the arts of science
stream. O u r final merged sample comprises 7,961 individuals - w h i ch is 98% of
the universe of mock exam i n at i o n candidates and 94% of Gaokao candidates.
12
The summa ry statistics for the mock examinatio n sample, the Gaokao sample
and th e merged sample are reported in Table 1.1. On average, the profile of
students in the merged sample is very similar to that in the mock examina-
tion.
13
Candidates who sat for both examinations ( i n the merged sample) were
of slightly higher ability than the overall Gaokao sample. Nevertheless, the
qualitative differences in the actual test scores for the two samples are quite
small, ranging from 0.4 to 1.3 points out of a 150 or 300 point test. There
is also litt l e observed difference in the demographic characteristics across the
Gaokao and the merged sample. Overall, these results suggest that there is
very l i t t l e selection into t h e final sample based on an individual’s performance
on the mock examination and that the merged sample is b r oa d l y representative
of the universe of first-time Gaokao test-takers in Anxi county.
[Insert Table 1.1 here]
Table 1.1: Summary Statistics
12
There were approximately 250 candidat e s who sat for the Gaokao and not the mock
examination. Most of these students were either retaking the Gaokao or were private candi-
dates (i.e. these students were not affiliated with a high scho ol when they took the exam).
13

Appendix A also includes a profile of candidates in Anxi county, Fujian province and
China as a whole.
12
1.4 Gender Gap in Performance on Mock Ex-
am vs. Gaokao
Before turni n g to the formal econometric analysis, we present so m e suggestive
graphical and descriptive evidence of the gender gap in performance on the
high-stakes Gaokao vs. low-stakes mock examination. The top two panels of
Figure 1.1 shows the di st r i b u t i on of total scores separately by gender for the
April mock examination and the June Gaokao. As observed in the figure, while
the female test-score d i st ri b u t i o n is to the right of the male distribution i n the
mock examination, for the Gaokao, the male distribution appears to converge
to that of the female distribution. Si n ce we are presenting non-standardized
scores in this section, it is important to distinguish between students in the
Science and Ar t s stream as one of the exam components, namely, the combined
science/arts subject, differs across the two groups. The middle and bottom
panels of Figure 1.1 graph the distributions separately for students in the
Science stream and Arts stream. Among Science students, males appear to
outperform f em al e s at almost a l l p o i nts of the test score dist r i b ut i on , and
the male advantage becomes even more pronounced during the Gaokao. In
contrast, among Arts students, we observe a strong female advantage in the
mock examination at all points of the distribution. This advantage appears
to be reduced in the Gaokao, particularly among students in the middle to
13