Modeling Student Subject Choice at Secondary and Tertiary Level: A Cross-Section Study

Abstract

Cross-section data on secondary level student choices provide evidence on factors influencing the decision to study economics. Such evidence makes a key contribution to the broader debates on why student numbers have been falling in economics and why women are reluctant economists. Greater mathematical aptitude and prior knowledge of the subject influence the decision to study economics, and a significant effect is attributable to relative underachievement in economics. There are also significant peer group and teacher effects. Female students are more likely to study economics when there is a critical mass of women studying the subject. There is a positive role model effect of female teachers—although this does not carry over to the decision to continue with economics at the university.

Key Words:

• gender
• subject choice

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J. Lynne Evans

John Ashworth is Reader in Economics (e-mail: [email protected]), and J. Lynne Evans is Senior Lecturer in Economics; both are at the University of Durham. The authors are grateful to the British Academy (Grants: OCG-29925 and OCG-30886) and the Nuffield Foundation (Grant: SOC/100 [1453]) for financial support, to Rowena Ashworth and Joy Rice for excellent research assistance, to the teachers who gave their time to administering the questionnaire, and to Espen Bratberg and Steve Bradley for clarifying the correct procedure for calculating marginal effects and the associated standard errors in the case of dummy variables. Acknowledgment should also be given to participants at the American Economic Association meeting, Boston, 2000, and participants at the Scholarship of Teaching Economics Conference, Melbourne, 2000, for their comments.