Data and Code for: "How Early Adolescent Skills and Preferences Shape Economics Education Choices"

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Lenka Fiala, Nova School of Business and Economics; John Eric Humphries, Yale University; Juanna S. Joensen, University of Chicago; Uditi Karna, University of Chicago; John A. List, University of Chicago; Gregory Veramendi, University of Munich

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Swedish			05/01/2022 09:37:PM
UProgram			05/01/2022 09:37:PM
readme.pdf	application/pdf	282.3 KB	05/08/2022 05:46:PM
readme.txt	text/plain	2.5 KB	05/09/2022 02:04:PM

Project Citation:

Fiala, Lenka, Humphries, John Eric, Joensen, Juanna S., Karna, Uditi, List, John A., and Veramendi, Gregory. Data and Code for: “How Early Adolescent Skills and Preferences Shape Economics Education Choices.” Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-10-05. https://doi.org/10.3886/E169361V1

Project Description

Summary: Leveraging data from Sweden and Chicago, we study the educational pipeline for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and economics majors to better understand the determinants of the gender gap, and when these determinants arise. We present three findings. First, females are less likely to select STEM courses in high school, despite equal or better preparation. Second, there are important early gender differences in preferences and beliefs, even conditional on ability. Third, early differences in preferences and beliefs explain more of the gaps in high school sorting than other candidate variables. High school sorting then explains a large portion of the gender difference in college majors.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: randomized controlled trial; administrative data; education choice

JEL Classification:
      A20 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: General
      C93 Field Experiments
      I21 Analysis of Education
      J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

Geographic Coverage: Sweden, Chicago, IL, USA

Time Period(s): 1982 – 2013 (Swedish data on cohorts who completed compulsory schooling in 1988-97 was collected from 1982 when the oldest cohort was in 3rd grade until 2013); 2016 – 2017 (Data from the three school districts in Chicago, IL, collected during the 2016/17 school year)

Collection Date(s): 1982 – 2013 (Swedish data on cohorts who completed compulsory schooling in 1988-97 was collected from 1982 when the oldest cohort was in 3rd grade until 2013); 2016 – 2017 (Data from the three school districts in Chicago, IL, collected during the 2016/17 school year)

Universe: Sweden: students from cohorts in 9th grade in 1988-97

Chicago, IL: students in 7th and 8th grade in three schools in South suburbs of Chicago, IL

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: Individual

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-10-05]

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