Work

The impacts of same and opposite gender alumni speakers on interest in economics

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of a series of male and female alumni speaker interventions in introductory microeconomics courses on student interest in economics. Using student-level transcript data, we estimate the effect of speakers in models which use untreated lectures as control groups, including professor and semester-year fixed effects and student-level covariates. Alumni speakers increase intermediate economics course take-up by 1.7–2.1 percentage points (9–12%). Students are more responsive to same-gender speakers, with male speakers increasing men’s course take-up by 36–38% and female speakers increasing women’s course take-up by 37–40% implying that the effect of alumni speakers is strongly gendered.

Source: Economics of Education Review

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102579

Authors: Arpita Patnaik, Gwyn Pauley, Joanna Venator, Matthew Wiswall

Language: English

Topic: Career Development and Diversity

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,790

OpenAlex ID: W4402209257

FWCI: 1.222

Cites: 45

Cited by: 3

Related to: 10