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Does Exposure to Economics Bring New Majors to the Field? Evidence from a natural Experiment

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  • Hans Fricke
  • Jeffrey Grogger
  • Andreas Steinmayr

Abstract

This study investigates how being exposed to a field of study influences students’ major choices. We exploit a natural experiment at a Swiss university where all first-year students face largely the same curriculum before they choose a major. An important component of the first-year curriculum that varies between students involves a multi-term research paper in business, economics, or law. Due to oversubscription of business, the university assigns the field of the paper in a standardized way that is unrelated to student characteristics. We find that being assigned to write in economics raises the probability of majoring in economics by 2.7 percentage points, which amounts to 18 percent of the share of students who major in economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Fricke & Jeffrey Grogger & Andreas Steinmayr, 2015. "Does Exposure to Economics Bring New Majors to the Field? Evidence from a natural Experiment," NBER Working Papers 21130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21130
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    Cited by:

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    3. Christopher Avery & Oded Gurantz & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2018. "Shifting College Majors in Response to Advanced Placement Exam Scores," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 918-956.
    4. Marta De Philippis, 2023. "STEM Graduates and Secondary School Curriculum: Does Early Exposure to Science Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(6), pages 1914-1947.
    5. Choi, Darwin & Lou, Dong & Mukherjee, Abhiroop, 2018. "The effect of superstar firms on college major choice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118941, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Ze Chen & Yuan Wang & Yanjun Guan & Michael Jie Guo & Rong Xu, 2023. "Long‐term effect of childhood pandemic experience on medical major choice: Evidence from the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1120-1147, May.
    7. Joseph G. Altonji & Peter Arcidiacono & Arnaud Maurel, 2015. "The Analysis of Field Choice in College and Graduate School: Determinants and Wage Effects," NBER Working Papers 21655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Richard W. Patterson & Nolan G. Pope & Aaron Feudo, 2019. "Timing is Everything: Evidence from College Major Decisons," CESifo Working Paper Series 7448, CESifo.
    9. Gurantz, Oded & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan, 2020. "Sibling effects on high school exam taking and performance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 534-549.

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    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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