Working Paper: NBER ID: w24189
Authors: Tatyana Avilova; Claudia Goldin
Abstract: Men outnumber women as undergraduate economics majors by three to one nationwide. Even at the best research universities and liberal arts colleges men outnumber women by two to one or more. The Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge was begun in 2015 as an RCT with 20 treatment schools and at least 30 control schools to evaluate whether better course information, mentoring, encouragement, career counseling, and more relevant instructional content could move the needle. Although the RCT is still in the field, results from several within treatment-school randomized trials demonstrate that uncomplicated and inexpensive interventions can substantially increase the interest of women to major in economics.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: A0; A22; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Better information about the applicability of economics (D89) | increased awareness and interest among female students (I24) |
| Mentoring and role models (O36) | positive influence on female students' decisions to major in economics (B54) |
| Changes in instructional content and presentation style (Y20) | higher enrollment among women (I24) |
| Interventions (O31) | significantly increase the number of female economics majors (A23) |