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Motivations to Major in Economics

Last registered on September 14, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Motivations to Major in Economics
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002745
Initial registration date
September 14, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 21, 2018, 12:18 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 14, 2020, 1:43 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Oregon

Primary Investigator

Name
Todd Pugatch
Affiliation
Oregon State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Elizabeth Schroeder
PI Affiliation
Oregon State University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-09-20
End date
2019-10-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
college major choice, gender gap in Economics, higher education, nudges, randomized control trial
JEL code(s)
I21, I23
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Why do students major in Economics? Why is the proportion of women who study Economics so low? This study will assess whether students respond to messages about majoring in Economics, and whether this response varies by student gender. The experiment will occur in two phases. In the first phase, we will randomly assign students currently enrolled in Economics Principles courses to receive messages emphasizing the rewarding careers available to Economics majors or the financial returns to the major. These groups will be compared to students receiving no such messages and to a group receiving a "placebo" message with basic information about the major. In the second phase, all students receiving a grade of B- or better will receive a message after the course is over encouraging them to major in Economics. A randomly chosen subset of these students will receive a message encouraging them to persist in Economics even if their grade was disappointing. Results will shed light on student motivations to major in Economics, which messages can change their choices, and whether female students respond disproportionately to certain messages about the major.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Pugatch, Todd and Elizabeth Schroeder. 2020. "Motivations to Major in Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2745-3.0
Former Citation
Pugatch, Todd and Elizabeth Schroeder. 2020. "Motivations to Major in Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2745/history/195793
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention will occur in two phases. The study population is students enrolled in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University.

The first phase occurs while students are currently enrolled in an Economics Principles course. Students will be sent email messages emphasizing different aspects of the Economics major:

1. financial returns
2. rewarding careers

The second phase occurs after students have completed an Economics Principles course. Students receiving a grade of B- or better will receive a message encouraging them to persist in Economics even if their grade was disappointing.
Intervention Start Date
2018-11-12
Intervention End Date
2019-09-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
intention to major or minor in Economics (self-reported and administrative data)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
knowledge about Economics major (financial returns)
viewership of material about Economics majors
appointments with Economics academic advisor
enrollment in subsequent Economics courses
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Phase One: students enrolled in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University will be randomly assigned to one of the following groups:

1. control group: no email
2. placebo email: basic information about the Economics major
3. financial returns email
4. rewarding careers email (link to AEA video)
5. rewarding careers email (link to video testimonial by Oregon State University alumni or current students)

Phase Two: students who received a grade of B- or better in Economics Principles courses at Oregon State University will be randomly assigned to one of the following groups after completing the course:

1. control: email encouraging student to major in Economics
2. treatment: encouragement email with message to persist in Economics even if grade was disappointing
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer using random number generator
Randomization Unit
individual student
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
12 sections of Economics Principles courses
Sample size: planned number of observations
Phase 1: 3,000 students Phase 2: 1,200 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Phase 1: 600 students will be in each of the 5 treatment arms (including control group)
Phase 2: 600 students will be in each of the 2 treatment arms (including control group)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
MDE for outcome "Intend to major in Economics (binary)": 4.1 percentage points (assumed control mean = 5%) MDE for outcome "Intend to major in Economics (continuous)": 6.2 percentage points (assumed control mean = 15%) Calculations assume 600 observations per arm, 5% test size, and 80% power.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Oregon State University
IRB Approval Date
2018-02-08
IRB Approval Number
8402
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 15, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 30, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
2,277 students
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
2,277 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Control: 456 Basic information: 455 Earnings information: 460 AEA video: 455 OSU video: 451
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://doi.org/10.3886/E192268V3
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
We assess whether light-touch interventions can increase the proportion of women who study economics. Over 2,000 students were randomly assigned to receive a message with basic information about the economics major, the basic message combined with an emphasis on the rewarding careers or financial returns associated with the major, or no message. The basic message increased the proportion of male students majoring in economics by 2 percentage points, equivalent to the control mean. We find no significant effects for female students. Extrapolating to the full sample, the basic message would nearly double the male/female ratio among economics majors.
Citation
Pugatch, Todd, and Elizabeth Schroeder. 2021. "Promoting Female Interest in Economics: Limits to Nudges." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111: 123-27.
URL
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/pandp.20211024
Abstract
We assess whether a light-touch intervention can increase socioeconomic and racial diversity in undergraduate Economics. We randomly assigned over 2200 students a message with basic information about the Economics major; the basic message combined with an emphasis on the rewarding careers or financial returns associated with the major; or no message. Messages increased the proportion of first generation students majoring in Economics by five percentage points. This effect size was sufficient to reverse the gap in Economics majors for first generation students. Suggestive evidence indicates the effects may be driven by first generation students who were not also underrepresented minorities.
Citation
Pugatch, T. & Schroeder, E. (2023) A simple nudge increases socioeconomic diversity in undergraduate Economics. Economic Inquiry, 1–21.
URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13172

Reports & Other Materials