This paper studies the formation of math and verbal skills during compulsory education and their impact on educational attainment. Using longitudinal data that follow students in England from elementary school to university, we find that the production functions of math and verbal skills are inherently different, where cross effects are present only in the production of math skills. Results on long-term educational outcomes indicate that verbal skills play a substantially greater role in explaining university enrollment than math skills. This finding, combined with the large female advantage in verbal skills, has key implications for gender gaps in college enrollment.

中文翻译：

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大学教育之路：数学和语言技能的作用

本文研究义务教育期间数学和语言技能的形成及其对受教育程度的影响。使用跟踪英国学生从小学到大学的纵向数据，我们发现数学和语言技能的生产函数本质上是不同的，交叉效应只存在于数学技能的生产中。长期教育成果的结果表明，与数学技能相比，语言技能在解释大学入学率方面发挥了更大的作用。这一发现与女性在语言技能方面的巨大优势相结合，对大学入学的性别差距具有重要意义。