Abstract
Do improved earnings and gender equality among recent graduates lead to updating of beliefs among current students at the same business school? Do beliefs influence realized earnings, helping to explain one source of the persistent gender earnings gap? Using unique panel data, fixed effects and two-stage least-squares models with exogenous market conditions, we find that only female business students are insensitive to changes in gender equality and that earnings beliefs drive the future gender gap in earnings. We find no evidence that current labor market conditions explain why female students systematically hold lower beliefs of earnings than male students.