Information intervention on long-term earnings prospects and the gender gap in major choice

Author:

Peter Frauke1ORCID,Schober Pia2,Spiess C Katharina3

Affiliation:

1. Educational Careers and Graduate Employment, German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies , 30159 Hannover , Germany

2. University of Tuebingen , 72074 Tuebingen , Germany

3. Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), 65185 Wiesbaden, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and IZA Bonn , Germany

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates whether an intervention that provided high school seniors with information on costs and economic returns to tertiary education and on the long-term earnings prospects of college graduates from different study fields enhances the probability that male and female students opt for financially more rewarding study fields and for business-related or STEM fields with a lower share of women. It extends our understanding on the potentials of information interventions for reducing gender segregation in tertiary education. We draw on a field experiment in one German federal state, Berlin, which included a randomized information intervention, and analyse longitudinal data from 1,036 students in schools with a high share of less privileged students. Our results show that a short and low-cost information intervention on costs and returns to college education, including returns in different fields of study, can substantially reduce women’s enrolment in care/social subjects, increase their enrolment in other, non-technical fields while also increasing men’s enrolment in technical fields with above-average earnings. The overall effects appear limited in challenging the gender-typicality of enrolment choices, as students tend to choose more profitable majors while avoiding gender-atypical fields.

Funder

Einstein Foundation Berlin

German Science Foundation

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Sociology and Political Science

Reference71 articles.

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