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  5. Gender Differences in Economics Course-Taking and Majoring: Findings from an RCT

AEA Papers and Proceedings

ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)

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Gender Differences in Economics Course-Taking and Majoring: Findings from an RCT

  • Daniel Halim
  • Elizabeth T. Powers
  • Rebecca Thornton
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 112, May 2022
(pp. 597–602)
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Abstract

We use an RCT at an elite public university to evaluate whether undergraduate students in introductory economics courses could be nudged to pursue economics further. Two treatment arms provided information and framed the economics major as either having wide applicability or high financial returns. Both treatments nudged men to take more courses similarly, with no effects on women. Women with a lower-than-expected introductory course grade reduced course-taking in response to either treatment; men in this position were nudged to take more courses. Men with female TAs were also nudged to take more courses, while women were not.

Citation

Halim, Daniel, Elizabeth T. Powers, and Rebecca Thornton. 2022. "Gender Differences in Economics Course-Taking and Majoring: Findings from an RCT." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 112: 597–602. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221120

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • A22 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Undergraduate
  • I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
  • I26 Returns to Education
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination