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Exposure to academic fields and college major choice

Author

Listed:
  • Fricke, Hans
  • Grogger, Jeffrey
  • Steinmayr, Andreas

Abstract

This study investigates how exposure to a field of study influences students' major choices. If students have incomplete information, exposure potentially helps them to learn about the scope of a field as well as how well the field matches their interest and abilities. We exploit a natural experiment where university students have to write a research paper in business, economics, or law during their first year before they choose a major. Due to oversubscription of business papers, the field of the paper is assigned quasi-randomly. We find that writing in economics raises the probability of majoring in economics by 2.7 percentage points. We show further that this effect varies across subfields: the effect is driven by assignment to topics less typical of the public's perception of the field of economics, suggesting students learn through exposure that the field is broader than they thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Fricke, Hans & Grogger, Jeffrey & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2018. "Exposure to academic fields and college major choice," Munich Reprints in Economics 62821, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenar:62821
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    Cited by:

    1. Estevan, Fernanda & Gall, Thomas & Morin, Louis-Philippe, 2025. "On the road to social mobility? Affirmative action and major choice," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Zhu,Yu & Xu, Lei, 2022. "Returns to Higher Education - Graduate and Discipline Premiums," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1091, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Seah, Kelvin K.C. & Pan, Jessica & Tan, Poh Lin, 2020. "Breadth of university curriculum and labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. repec:osf:edarxi:u2cwq_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Li, Hongyan & Xia, Xing, 2024. "Grades as signals of comparative advantage: How letter grades affect major choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    6. Ryan, James C. & A Tipu, Syed A., 2022. "Business and management research: Low instances of replication studies and a lack of author independence in replications," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    7. Yanqing Ding & Wei Li & Xin Li & Yinduo Wu & Jin Yang & Xiaoyang Ye, 2021. "Heterogeneous Major Preferences for Extrinsic Incentives: The Effects of Wage Information on the Gender Gap in STEM Major Choice," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(8), pages 1113-1145, December.
    8. Kalena E. Cortes & Hans Fricke & Susanna Loeb & David S. Song, 2018. "Too little or too much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment," NBER Working Papers 24827, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ahi, Alan A. & Sinkovics, Noemi & Shildibekov, Yelnur & Sinkovics, Rudolf R. & Mehandjiev, Nikolay, 2022. "Advanced technologies and international business: A multidisciplinary analysis of the literature," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    10. Kalena E. Cortes & Hans D.U. Fricke & Susanna Loeb & David S. Song & Benjamin N. York, 2019. "When Behavioral Barriers are Too High or Low – How Timing Matters for Parenting Interventions," NBER Working Papers 25964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Yang, Guanyi & Casner, Ben, 2021. "How much does schooling disutility matter?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 87-95.
    12. Robert R. Carnes & Dane M. Christensen & Paul E. Madsen, 2023. "Externalities of Financial Statement Fraud on the Incoming Accounting Labor Force," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 61(5), pages 1531-1589, December.
    13. Doss, Christopher & Fricke, Hans & Loeb, Susanna & Doromal, Justin B., 2022. "Engaging girls in math: The unequal effects of text messaging to help parents support early math development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. Fricke, Hans & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2018. "The effects of incentives to exercise on student performance in college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 14-39.
    15. Ma, Liping & Li, Xin & Zhu, Qiong & Ye, Xiaoyang, 2023. "College-major choice to college-then-major choice: Experimental evidence from Chinese college admissions reforms," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Eleonora Brandimarti, 2025. "Self-Selection, University Courses and Returns to Advanced Degrees," Papers 2511.09260, arXiv.org.
    17. Manon Garrouste & Camille Hémet, 2024. "Neighbor Effects and Early Track Choices," Working Papers halshs-04655509, HAL.
    18. Arpita Patnaik & Matthew J. Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2020. "College Majors," NBER Working Papers 27645, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Alon, Titan & Fershtman, Daniel, 2025. "A dynamic Roy model of academic specialization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    20. Bo, Shiyu & Chen, Joy & Song, Yan & Zhou, Sen, 2020. "Media attention and choice of major: Evidence from anti-doctor violence in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 1-19.
    21. Bo, Shiyu & Chen, Y. Joy & Song, Yan & Zhou, Sen, 2018. "Media Attention and Choice of Major: Evidence from Anti-Doctor Violence in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 284, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    22. Zhou, Yonghong, 2023. "Influence of political movement on fields of study: Evidence from Hong Kong," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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