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College Major Choice, Payoffs, and Gender Gaps

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Campos
  • Pablo Muñoz
  • Alonso Bucarey
  • Dante Contreras

Abstract

This paper studies how college major choices shape earnings and fertility outcomes. Using administrative data that link students' preferences, random assignment to majors, and post-college outcomes, we estimate the causal pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to different fields of study. We document substantial heterogeneity in these returns across majors and show that such variation helps explain gender gaps in labor market outcomes: women place greater weight on balancing career and family in their major choices, and these preference differences account for about 30% of the gender earnings gap among college graduates. Last, we use our causal estimates to evaluate the effects of counterfactual assignment rules that target representation gaps in settings with centralized assignment systems. We find that gender quotas in high-return fields can significantly reduce representation and earnings gaps with minimal impacts on efficiency and aggregate fertility.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Campos & Pablo Muñoz & Alonso Bucarey & Dante Contreras, 2026. "College Major Choice, Payoffs, and Gender Gaps," NBER Working Papers 34736, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34736
    Note: ED LS
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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