IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea22/336016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Double Majors Face Less Risk? An Analysis of Human Capital Diversification

Author

Listed:
  • Hanks, Andrew S.
  • Jiang, Shengjun
  • Qian, Xuechao
  • Wang, Bo
  • Weinberg, Bruce

Abstract

We study how human capital diversification, in the form of double majoring, affects the response of earnings to labor market shocks. Double majors experience substantial protection against earnings shocks, of 56%. This finding holds across different model specifications and data sets. Furthermore, the protection double majors experience is more pronounced when the two majors are more distantly related, highlighting the importance of diverse skill sets. Additional analyses demonstrate that double majors are more likely to work in jobs that require a diverse set of skills and knowledge and are less likely to work in occupations that are closely related to their majors.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Hanks, Andrew S. & Jiang, Shengjun & Qian, Xuechao & Wang, Bo & Weinberg, Bruce, 2023. "Do Double Majors Face Less Risk? An Analysis of Human Capital Diversification," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 336016, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea22:336016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/336016/files/26801.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Del Rossi, Alison F. & Hersch, Joni, 2016. "The Private and Social Benefits of Double Majors," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 292-325, July.
    2. Del Rossi, Alison F. & Hersch, Joni, 2008. "Double your major, double your return?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 375-386, August.
    3. Light, Audrey & Schreiner, Sydney, 2019. "College major, college coursework, and post-college wages," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    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. Andrew S. Hanks & Kevin M. Kniffin & Xuechao Qian & Bo Wang & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2022. "First Foot Forward: A Two-Step Econometric Method for Parsing and Estimating the Impacts of Multiple Identities," NBER Working Papers 30293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Qiong Zhu & Liang Zhang, 2021. "Effects of a Double Major on Post-Baccalaureate Outcomes," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 146-169, Winter.
    3. Griffith, Amanda L. & Main, Joyce B., 2019. "First impressions in the classroom: How do class characteristics affect student grades and majors?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 125-137.
    4. Anna Manzoni & Jessi Streib, 2019. "The Equalizing Power of a College Degree for First-Generation College Students: Disparities Across Institutions, Majors, and Achievement Levels," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(5), pages 577-605, August.
    5. Eric Bettinger, 2010. "To Be or Not to Be: Major Choices in Budding Scientists," NBER Chapters, in: American Universities in a Global Market, pages 69-98, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Elzbieta Turska, 2016. "Is Double-Degree Goal Equally Good for All Students? Moderating Impact of Interval Activity Style (Czy studia na drugim kierunku sluza wszystkim studentom? Modyfikuj¹cy efekt przedzialowego stylu akty," Problemy Zarzadzania, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 14(60), pages 134-146.
    7. Steven Hemelt, 2010. "The college double major and subsequent earnings," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 167-189.
    8. Basit Zafar, 2012. "Double Majors: One For Me, One For The Parents?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 287-308, April.
    9. Kevin M. Kniffin & Andrew S. Hanks & Xuechao Qian & Bo Wang & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2020. "Dissertators with Distantly Related Foci Face Divergent Near-Term Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 27825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Richard J. Paulsen & Neil Alper & Gregory Wassall, 2021. "Arts majors as entrepreneurs and innovators," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 639-652, August.
    11. Milagros Nores, 2010. "Differences in College Major Choice by Citizenship Status," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 627(1), pages 125-141, January.
    12. Light, Audrey & Wertz, Sydney Schreiner, 2022. "Should English majors take computer science courses? Labor market benefits of the occupational specificity of major and nonmajor college credits," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor and Human Capital; Research Methods/Statistical Methods; Risk and Uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

    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:ags:aaea22:336016. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    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.