Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13966
Authors: Anne Brene; Ulf Zlitz
Abstract: This paper investigates how high school gender composition affects students' participation in STEM at college. Using Danish administrative data, we exploit idiosyncratic within-school variation in gender composition. We find that having a larger proportion of female peers reduces women’s probability of enrolling in and graduating from STEM programs. Men’s STEM participation increases with more female peers present. In the long run, women exposed to more female peers are less likely to work in STEM occupations, earn less, and have more children. Our findings show that the school peer environment has lasting effects on occupational sorting, the gender wage gap, and fertility.
Keywords: Gender; Peer Effects; STEM Studies
JEL Codes: I21; J16; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| proportion of female peers (J16) | women's probability of enrolling in STEM (I24) |
| proportion of female peers (J16) | men's probability of enrolling in STEM (D29) |
| proportion of female peers (J16) | gender gap in STEM degree completion (I24) |
| proportion of female peers (J16) | women's probability of working in STEM (J79) |
| proportion of female peers (J16) | gender wage gap (J31) |
| proportion of female peers (J16) | number of children by age 36 (J13) |