Do mentoring, information, and nudge reduce the gender gap in economics majors?

Abstract

The gender gap in economics majors (i.e., male students are much more likely to major in economics than are their female counterparts) has remained large, despite narrowing gaps observed in many other fields. This study examines whether mentoring, the provision of additional information, and nudges help reduce the gender gap in economics majors via a randomized controlled experiment conducted in introductory economics classes at a large, public, four-year institution in the United States. The results show that the treatment effects are heterogeneous and have the most significant impact on female students with grades above the median. The treatments increase these female students’ probability of majoring in economics by 5.41–6.27 percentage points.