Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports College Major Choice and the Gender Gap
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports College Major Choice and the Gender Gap
复制标题
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2009
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
basit. zafar;basit. zafar;Adeline Delavande;Marianne Hinds
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
basit. zafar;basit. zafar;Adeline Delavande;Marianne Hinds
男性和女性在大学专业的选择上存在显著差异。造成性别差异的主要原因有两个：先天能力的差异和偏好的差异。这篇论文讨论了大学专业的选择问题，关注的是潜在的性别差异。由于观察到的选择可能与预期和偏好的许多组合一致，我使用了西北大学大二学生的独特数据集，其中包含学生对特定选择结果的主观期望。我估计了一个选择模型，其中大学专业的选择是在不确定的情况下做出的(关于个人品味、个人能力和与专业选择相关的结果的实现)。享受课程，在潜在的工作中找到成就感，以及获得父母的认可是选择大学专业的最重要的决定因素。男性和女性在大学期间有相似的偏好，但他们在工作场所的偏好有所不同：大学里的非金钱结果对女性的决定最重要，而在工作场所实现的金钱结果解释了男性选择的很大一部分原因。我将性别差距分解为信仰和偏好的差异。对学术能力的信念上的性别差异解释了这一差距的一小部分且微不足道，这一发现让我排除了自信不足的可能性，这是女性在科学界代表性不足的可能解释。相反，大多数性别差异是由于对享受课业的不同信念和偏好的差异造成的。
Males and females are markedly different in their choice of college major. Two main reasons have been suggested for the gender gap: differences in innate abilities and differences in preferences. This paper addresses the question of how college majors are chosen, focusing on the underlying gender gap. Since observed choices may be consistent with many combinations of expectations and preferences, I use a unique data set of Northwestern University sophomores that contains the students’ subjective expectations about choice-specific outcomes. I estimate a choice model where selection of college major is made under uncertainty (about personal tastes, individual abilities, and realizations of outcomes associated with the choice of major). Enjoying coursework, finding fulfillment in potential jobs, and gaining the approval of parents are the most important determinants in the choice of college major. Males and females have similar preferences while in college, but their preferences diverge in terms of the workplace: Nonpecuniary outcomes at college are most important in the decisions of females, while pecuniary outcomes realized at the workplace explain a substantial part of the choice for males. I decompose the gender gap into differences in beliefs and preferences. Gender differences in beliefs about academic ability explain a small and insignificant part of the gap, a finding that allows me to rule out low self-confidence as a possible explanation for females’ underrepresentation in the sciences. Conversely, most of the gender gap is the result of differences in beliefs about enjoying coursework and differences in preferences.