Paper can be viewed here, and a quick overview of main results here.
Abstract: In this study I investigate how cognitive and noncognitive skills jointly influence academic performance in Maths and English among Irish secondary school students, with a focus on gender differences. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study, I apply linear and translog production functions to model these relationships. I find that cognitive skills remain the strongest predictors of academic performance, with slightly stronger effects for boys. However, noncognitive skills, particularly Focused Behaviour and Conscientiousness (TIPI), significantly impact performance (especially for girls in Maths, where skills are substitutes rather than complements (ES > 1)). In contrast, English performance exhibits stronger cognitive dominance and less substitutability between skill types. These results challenge the assumption of a uniform educational production process and highlight the need for gender- and subject-specific educational strategies that develop both cognitive and noncognitive skills in an effective way.
Presentation can be viewed here.
Abstract: In this study I look at when and how gender gaps in Maths skills emerge as kids develop. Using data that follows Irish children from ages 9 to 15, I found that the gender gap in Maths evolve in dynamic ways. Boys start with stronger numerical abilities at age 9, but girls' better reading skills and fewer behavioral problems (especially lower hyperactivity) help close this gap. By age 13, the mechanisms driving Maths achievement differences change significantly - cognitive skill gaps widen while girls start getting better returns on the skills they do have. Father absence hits boys harder than girls in terms of Maths scores, with boys showing a larger achievement gap (1.1 points versus 0.9 points for girls) when fathers are disengaged. What's really interesting is that this paternal effect works differently by gender: for boys, it's mainly about having worse characteristics (endowment effects), while for girls it's a more complex mix of different characteristics and different returns to those characteristics.