Premiere: Monday 17 June, starting at 3pm BST//10am EDT

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Presenters

Gender gap in the choice of Economics: the importance of content, information and students’ stereotypes

Marta Martínez-Matute (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Nuria Rodríguez Priego (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Ana Hidalgo Cabrillana (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Andrés Maroto (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Sara Pinillos Franco (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), and Ágnes Pintér (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

There are several factors affecting the choice of a college degree, such as job prospects, stereotypes, available information, college access grades, preferences or previous educational attainment. In this project, we analyze the gender gap in the choice of the degree in economics with data from Spain. Our project contributes to the previous evidence observed in relation to the persistent under-representation of women in the specific field of some degrees, trying to reverse this unequal female presence that slows down the attraction of talent. The aim of this project is to analyze, firstly, the significant lower female presence of students in the degree of economics compare to other degrees in business and social sciences in two large universities in Spain. We also investigate what factors may be explaining these gender differences in the choice of the degree. Secondly, we introduce a workshop at final year at several high schools in Madrid, when students are preparing the access to college. The aim of the workshop is to diversify and modernize the perception of economics, showing role models of female economists and a wide bunch of research topics in economics and more varied contents and subjects than those traditionally existing before accessing college. We check whether the workshop changes the preferences of high-school students and increase the likelihood of women choosing this degree. We then compare these results with those of freshmen at collage to understand the factors that may contribute to reduce this gender gap.

Developing a Course on Economics and Race in the US

Stephen Schmidt (Union College)

Since the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014 and George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, there has been considerable discussion of the role of race in American society. Economists, though, have traditionally had little to say about how race affects economic outcomes, even though many economic outcomes in the United States are strongly correlated with race. In 2020, I developed a course called “Economics and Race in the United States”, aiming to raise the salience of race in the discussion of economics on campus and contribute to the broader conversation about how race shapes American society. To keep the course accessible to nonmajors, it has no prerequisites beyond introductory economics, and does not include any econometric material. Instead, the course is organized around a single inquiry; why do so many important economic outcomes differ sharply across different racial groups? Because the answers often involve history, sociology, and politics as well as economics, the course is highly interdisciplinary, and features readings from books by both economists and non-economists. The course begins with a unit defining race, explaining how it is measured, and showing the major racial gaps in American economic outcomes. The next unit covers theories of how race affects economic allocation, including signaling, stigma, group identity, social norms, and political organization. The rest of the course applies these concepts to five areas with significant racial inequality in the United States: labor markets, education, banking and finance, housing, and public goods other than education (primarily health care and police protection). I discuss what I have learned from developing the course and teaching it three times, how others can develop similar courses for their own institutions, and how economists can contribute to teaching American college students about the impact of race on our society.