%0 Report
        %A Bertocchi, Graziella
%A Bonacini, Luca
%A Murat, Marina
        %T Adams and Eves: The Gender Gap in Economics Majors
        %D 2021
        %8 2021 Dec
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 14911
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14911
        %X We investigate the gender gap in Economics among bachelor's and master's graduates in Italy between 2010 and 2019. First we establish that being female exerts a negative impact on the choice to major in Economics: at the bachelor level, only 73 women graduate in Economics for every 100 men, with the mathematical content of high school curricula as the key driver of the effect and a persistence of the gap at the master level. Second, within a full menu of major choices, Economics displays the largest gap, followed by STEM and then Business Economics. Third, decomposition analyses expose a unique role for the math background in driving the Economics gender gap relative to other fields. Fourth, a triple difference analysis of a high school reform shows that an increase in the math content of traditionally low math curricula caused an increase in the Economics gender gap among treated students.
        %K major choice
%K business economics
%K higher education
%K economics
%K education gender gap
%K major switching
%K mathematics
%K stereotypes