Working Paper: NBER ID: w30983
Authors: Arpita Patnaik; Gwyn C. Pauley; Joanna Venator; Matthew J. Wiswall
Abstract: What is the impact of male and female alumni speaker interventions in introductory microeconomics courses on student interest in economics? Using student-level transcript data, we estimate the effect of speakers on future course-taking in models which use untreated lectures as control groups, including professor and semester fixed effects and student-level covariates. Alumni speakers increase intermediate economics course take-up by 2.1 percentage points (11%). Students are more responsive to same-gender speakers, with male speakers increasing men’s course take-up by 36% and female speakers increasing women’s course take-up by 40%, implying that the effect of alumni speakers is strongly gendered.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: A22; C93; I23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| alumni speaker gender (J16) | students' interest in economics courses (A21) |
| male speakers (J79) | male students' enrollment (I24) |
| female speakers (J16) | female students' enrollment (I24) |
| alumni speakers (Z00) | closing the gender gap in economics course-taking (A23) |
| alumni speakers (Z00) | students' course-taking behavior (A22) |
| male speakers (J79) | female students' enrollment (I24) |
| female speakers (J16) | male students' enrollment (I24) |
| alumni speakers (Z00) | treatment effects across different demographic dimensions (J79) |