Can Positive Feedback Encourage Female and Minority Undergraduates into Economics?
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 111,
May 2021
(pp. 128-32)
Abstract
In a field experiment designed to encourage undergraduate women and underrepresented minority students to study economics, we send personalized letters to students completing introductory economics classes inviting them to an informational meeting. A random sample of high-achieving students receives letters that also praise their performance and encourage them to persist in economics. Receiving this "nudge" increases the probability of informational meeting attendance and increases the number of women entering the economics and accounting major and of men entering the economics major. There is a substantial increase in the number of treated Hispanic students, particularly women, who choose economics and accounting.Citation
Bedard, Kelly, Jacqueline Dodd, and Shelly Lundberg. 2021. "Can Positive Feedback Encourage Female and Minority Undergraduates into Economics?" AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111: 128-32. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211025Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- A14 Sociology of Economics
- A22 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Undergraduate
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination