Seeking the “Missing Women” of Economics with the Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge
Journal of Economic Perspectives · 2024 · [{"name": "Tatyana Avilova", "affiliation": ["Bowdoin College"]}, {"name": "Claudia Goldin", "affiliation": ["National Bureau of Economic Research"]}]
中文摘要
经济学是最受欢迎的本科专业之一，尤其是在顶尖学院和大学中更是如此。然而，即便在最好的研究型大学和文理学院，主修经济学的男性人数也是女性的两倍，总体而言，经济学专业的男女比例约为2.5:1。我们讨论了女性主修经济学比例低于男性的原因，并介绍了一个旨在增加女性经济学本科专业人数的项目。“经济学本科女性挑战”（Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge，简称UWE Challenge）是一项随机对照试验，设有20所处理学校和68所对照学校，我们在2015—2016学年运行了一年，以评估“轻触式”干预措施在招募和留住女性经济学专业学生方面的效果。处理学校获得了资金、指导，以及与其他处理学校建立联系网络的机会，用以实施诸如向新生提供关于经济学应用的更完善信息、让学生接触榜样人物、提供指导、更新课程内容与教学法等项目。利用国家教育统计中心（NCES）—综合高等教育数据系统（IPEDS）2001—2021年本科毕业生（学士学位）数据，我们发现UWE在文理学院中有效提高了女性（相对于男性）经济学专业毕业生的比例。大型大学未显示出处理效应，但那些自行实施了随机对照试验的学校，在鼓励更多女性主修经济学方面取得了适度的成效。我们讨论了我们认为UWE项目中行之有效的因素，并推测了处理效应出现差异的原因。
Abstract
Economics is among the most popular undergraduate majors, especially in top colleges and universities. However, even at the best research universities and liberal arts colleges men outnumber women by two to one, and overall there are about 2.5 males to every female economics major. We discuss why women major in economics less than men and describe a project to increase the number of female economics majors. The Undergraduate Women in Economics (UWE) Challenge was a randomized controlled trial, with 20 treatment and 68 control schools, that we ran for one year in AY 2015-16 to evaluate the impact of light-touch interventions to recruit and retain female economics majors. Treatment schools received funding, guidance, and access to networking with other treatment schools to implement programs such as providing better information to incoming students about the application of economics, exposing students to role models, providing mentoring, and updating course content and pedagogy. Using 2001-2021 data from the NCES-Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) on graduating undergraduates (BAs), we find that UWE was effective in increasing the fraction of female BAs who majored in economics relative to men in liberal arts colleges. Large universities did not show an impact of the treatment, although those that implemented their own RCTs showed moderate success in encouraging more women to major in economics. We discuss what we believe worked in the UWE program and speculate on the reasons for differential treatment impact.