Gender Differences in the Choice of Major: The Importance of Female Role Models

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics - Tập 12 Số 3 - Trang 226-254 - 2020
Catherine Porter1, Danila Serra2
1Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster LA14YX, UK (email: )
2Department of Economics, Texas A&M University, 3094 Allen Building, College Station, TX 77843 (email: )

Tóm tắt

We conducted a field experiment aimed at increasing the percentage of women majoring in economics. We exposed students enrolled in introductory classes to successful and charismatic women who majored in economics at the same university. The intervention significantly impacted female students’ enrollment in further economics classes, increasing their likelihood to major in economics by 8 percentage points. This is a large effect, given that only 9 percent of women were majoring in economics at baseline. Since the impacted women were previously planning to major in lower-earning fields, our low-cost intervention may have a positive effect on their future incomes. (JEL A22, C93, I23, I26, J16)

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Thông tin xuất bản

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

Tập 12 Số 3

226-254

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