Open AccessChildren Do Not Behave Like Adults: Gender Gaps In Performance And Risk Taking In A Random Social Context In The High‐Stakes Game Shows Jeopardy and Junior Jeopardy
Author(s) -
SäveSöderbergh Jenny,
Sjögren Lindquist Gabriella
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/ecoj.12355
Subject(s) - double jeopardy , context (archaeology) , psychology , social environment , cognition , gender gap , social psychology , developmental psychology , demographic economics , economics , political science , law , paleontology , neuroscience , biology
Using unique panel data, we compare the cognitive performance and wagering behaviour of children (10–11 years) with that of adults playing the Swedish version of the TV shows Jeopardy and Junior Jeopardy. Although facing the same well known high‐stakes game, and controlling for performance differences, there is no gender gap in risk taking between girls and boys in contrast to adults; while girls assume more risk than women, boys assume less risk than men. We also find that female behaviour is differently sensitive to social context. Whereas women wager less, girls perform worse and employ inferior wagering strategies when randomly assigned to male opponents.