Puzzling gender difference

"School Shootings and Student Performance"

PANU POUTVAARA, University of Helsinki - Department of Economics, Helsinki Center of Economic Research (HECER), CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research), Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), OLLI TAPANI ROPPONEN, University of Helsinki - Department of Economics

In this paper, we study how high school students reacted to the shocking news of a school shooting. The shooting coincided with national high-school matriculation exams. As there were exams both before and after the shooting, we can use a difference-in-differences analysis to uncover how the school shooting affected the test scores compared to previous years. We find that the average performance of young men declined due to the school shooting, whereas we do not observe a similar pattern for women.

CESifo Working Paper Series No. 3114

But why?

Hat tip: Charlie Brown