Abstract Prior research identifies ability profile as one of the important factors explaining gender imbalance in STEM-related career choices. The profile is often operationalized as a mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt. While the relationship between the tilt and a career choice is usually explained using concepts of gender-specific investments or comparative advantage, it is rarely considered that this relation is in fact causally reciprocal. In this article, we assume that investments in skill development and a set of considered educational options are interdependent, as students invest more time in subjects that seem more relevant to their plans, while the plans themselves are at least in part shaped by self-assessed cognitive strengths. The goal of this study is thus to estimate the magnitude of the direct impact of the mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt on the educational choices that enable the pursuit of a STEM career, while accounting for endogeneity in this relationship. We employ the instrumental variable approach to data on the Polish high-stakes exit exams that serve as a de facto filter to particular majors in tertiary education. The analysis covers the 2018 population of senior-year students (mostly 19-year-olds) taking the exit exams in all 5323 Polish high schools. The results reveal that ability tilt is as important in explaining students' choices of further educational paths as their level of mathematical ability and accounts for much of the gender gap in pursuing STEM majors. Methodologically, we point out that the results are substantially different from those estimated without taking into account school effects and the endogeneity of ability and choice.

中文翻译：

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能力倾斜在性别 STEM 相关选择中的净效应

摘要 先前的研究将能力概况确定为解释 STEM 相关职业选择中性别失衡的重要因素之一。该配置文件通常被操作为数学能力与语言能力的倾斜。虽然倾斜和职业选择之间的关系通常使用特定性别的投资或比较优势的概念来解释，但很少认为这种关系实际上是因果互惠的。在本文中，我们假设对技能发展的投资和一系列经过深思熟虑的教育选择是相互依存的，因为学生将更多时间投入到似乎与他们的计划更相关的科目上，而计划本身至少部分是由自我评估决定的认知优势。因此，本研究的目标是估计数学与语言能力倾斜对能够追求 STEM 职业的教育选择的直接影响的大小，同时考虑到这种关系的内生性。我们对波兰高风险毕业考试的数据采用工具变量方法，作为对高等教育中特定专业的事实上的过滤器。该分析涵盖了 2018 年波兰所有 5323 所高中参加毕业考试的高年级学生（主要是 19 岁）人口。结果表明，能力倾斜在解释学生选择继续教育路径方面与数学能力水平同样重要，并且在追求 STEM 专业的性别差距中占很大比例。在方法论上，