Luigi Guiso1,*, Ferdinando Monte2,*, Paola Sapienza3,*,†, Luigi Zingales4,*1European University Institute, Villa San Paolo, Via della Piazzuola 43, 50133 Florence, Italy. European University Institute, Villa San Paolo, Via della Piazzuola 43, 50133 Florence, Italy.2Economics Department, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.3Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern

Vital statisticsGirls are becoming as good as boys at mathematics, and are still better at reading TRADITION has it that boys are good at counting and girls are good at reading. So much so that Mattel once produced a talking Barbie doll whose stock of phrases included “Math class is tough!” Although much is made of differences between the brains of adult males and females, the sources of these dif