IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-21-00434.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The attitudinal gender gap of an economics education

Author

Listed:
  • Curtis R. Price

    (University of Southern Indiana)

  • Perry Burnett

    (University of Southern Indiana)

  • Daria Sevastianova

    (University of Southern Indiana)

Abstract

This note measures changes in how college students' beliefs change concerning the ailments of the economy when they take an introductory macroeconomics course. We measure this change by comparing results of pre- and post-surveys based on the popular survey: The Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy (1996, Caplan 2002). We measure students' beliefs on the problems facing the economy which range from taxes to regulation. Survey results indicate that at the beginning of the course male and female students have nearly identical beliefs concerning the problems in the economy. At the end of the course male and female students' beliefs about the ailments of the economy have shifted and diverged. We discuss the implications of this research in the context of generating interest in economics from female students and how these disparate beliefs may affect policy prescriptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Curtis R. Price & Perry Burnett & Daria Sevastianova, 2022. "The attitudinal gender gap of an economics education," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(1), pages 233-243.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-21-00434
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2022/Volume42/EB-22-V42-I1-P22.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann Mari May & Mary G. Mcgarvey & Robert Whaples, 2014. "Are Disagreements Among Male And Female Economists Marginal At Best?: A Survey Of Aea Members And Their Views On Economics And Economic Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(1), pages 111-132, January.
    2. Lindsay Noble Calkins & Andrew Welki, 2006. "Factors that influence choice of major: why some students never consider economics," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 33(8), pages 547-564, August.
    3. David Colander, 2004. "The Art of Teaching Economics," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 3(1), pages 63-76.
    4. John J. Siegfried, 2018. "Trends in undergraduate economics degrees, 1991–2017," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 291-295, July.
    5. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad & John J. Siegfried, 2015. "Research on Teaching Economics to Undergraduates," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 285-325, June.
    6. Catherine Porter & Danila Serra, 2020. "Gender Differences in the Choice of Major: The Importance of Female Role Models," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 226-254, July.
    7. Amanda Bayer & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2016. "Diversity in the Economics Profession: A New Attack on an Old Problem," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 221-242, Fall.
    8. William E. Becker, 1997. "Teaching Economics to Undergraduates," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1347-1373, September.
    9. Peter-Wim Zuidhof, 2014. "Thinking Like an Economist: The Neoliberal Politics of the Economics Textbook," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(2), pages 157-185, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Todd Pugatch & Elizabeth Schroeder, 2021. "Promoting Female Interest in Economics: Limits to Nudges," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 123-127, May.
    2. Graziella Bertocchi & Luca Bonacini & Marina Murat, 2023. "Adams and Eves: High school math and the gender gap in Economics majors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 798-817, October.
    3. Graziella Bertocchi & Luca Bonacini & Marina Murat, 2021. "Adams and Eves: The Gender Gap in Economics Majors," EIEF Working Papers Series 2115, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Dec 2021.
    4. Kristin F. Butcher & Patrick McEwan & Akila Weerapana, 2023. "Women's Colleges and Economics Major Choice: Evidence from Wellesley College Applicants," NBER Working Papers 31144, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Todd Pugatch & Elizabeth Schroeder, 2024. "A simple nudge increases socioeconomic diversity in undergraduate Economics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 287-307, January.
    6. Zachary Ferrara & Carlos J. Asarta, 2023. "The Lived Experiences of Top Women Contributors to Leading Economic Education Journals," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 68(1), pages 110-125, March.
    7. Rebecca Cassells & Leonora Risse & Danielle Wood & Duygu Yengin, 2023. "Lifting Diversity and Inclusion in Economics: How the Australian Women in Economics Network Put the Evidence into Action," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 42(1), pages 1-29, March.
    8. Graziella Bertocchi & Luca Bonacini & Marina Murat, 2021. "Adams and Eves: The Gender Gap in Economics Majors," Department of Economics 0196, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    9. Arnold, Ivo J.M., 2020. "Gender and major choice within economics: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    10. Urban, Janina & Rommel, Florian, 2020. "German economics: Its current form and content," Working Paper Series 56, Cusanus Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung, Institut für Ökonomie.
    11. Farré, Lídia & Ortega, Francesc, 2021. "Family Ties, Geographic Mobility and the Gender Gap in Academic Aspirations," IZA Discussion Papers 14561, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Amanda Bayer & Gregory Bruich & Raj Chetty & Andrew Housiaux, 2020. "Expanding and diversifying the pool of undergraduates who study economics: Insights from a new introductory course at Harvard," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 364-379, September.
    13. Yana Gallen & Melanie Wasserman, 2021. "Informed Choices: Gender Gaps in Career Advice," Working Papers 2021-025, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    14. Carlos J. Asarta & Roger B. Butters & Andrew Perumal, 2013. "Success in Economics Major: Is it Path Dependent?," Working Papers 13-11, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    15. Grace Eau & Derek Hoodin & Tareena Musaddiq, 2022. "Testing the effects of adaptive learning courseware on student performance: An experimental approach," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(3), pages 1086-1118, January.
    16. Didia, Lydia N. & Flasher, Renee, 2021. "Beyond the top seven firms: Gender diversity of audit firm partners and their undergraduate accounting faculty," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    17. Natsuki Arai & Shian Chang & Biing-Shen Kuo, 2021. "Introductory Economics: Gender, Majors, and Future Performance," Papers 2106.10091, arXiv.org.
    18. Caroline Krafft & Kristine West & Ashley McFarlane & Elizabeth Kula & Fardowsa Abdinoor & Morgan Weyrens-Welch & Karri Drain, 2023. "Virtually Nonexistent: Gender and Racial Representation in Online K-12 Economics Lessons," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 78-87, January.
    19. Engelhardt, Bryan & Johnson, Marianne & Meder, Martin E., 2021. "Learning in the time of Covid-19: Some preliminary findings," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    20. Jansson, Joakim & Tyrefors, Björn, 2022. "Grading bias and the leaky pipeline in economics: Evidence from Stockholm University," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender Gap; Economic Education; Policy Attitudes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-21-00434. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.