Gender Effects in Assessment of Economic Knowledge in Higher Education in Germany, Japan, and the United States

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Research From the Field of Higher Education Outcomes Assessment

Abstract

Gender effects in large-scale assessments have become an increasingly important research area within and across countries. This paper examines gender effects on students’ economic knowledge between Germany, Japan, and the U.S. To assess economic knowledge of higher education students, we used the Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE, fourth edition). We found gender effects in all three countries; men outperformed women to a much larger extent in Germany and the United States than in Japan. Gender effects were generally more pronounced on the numeracy sub-scale than on the literacy sub-scale, that is, male students had a greater edge over female students when items required calculations. In our conclusion, we discuss how numeracy and literacy items may tap different abilities.

Authors

• Sebastian Brueckner, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

• Manuel Förster, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

• Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

• Roland Happ, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

• Susanne Schmidt, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz