Is economics STEM? Process of (re)classification, requirements, and quantitative rigor

Abstract

From 2012 to 2019, the proportion of undergraduate economics degrees denoted as “Econometrics and Quantitative Economics” (STEM-eligible) conferred annually increased from 1 percent to 22 percent. The authors present results from a survey of the 73 institutions conferring at least one STEM-eligible economics degree in 2017 or 2018. They find that most institutions (59%) offer both traditional and STEM-eligible degrees and report needing departmental, college/university committee, and provost/dean approval to (re-)classify. The main motivation for this change is maintaining consistency with an increasingly quantitative discipline (73%). The significant differences in requirements between STEM-eligible and traditional economics degrees are the proportion requiring single variable calculus (91% vs. 69%), multivariable calculus (70% vs. 31%), linear algebra (48% vs. 21%), basic econometrics (96% vs. 77%), and advanced econometrics (48% vs. 8%).

Keywords:

• Quantitative methods
• STEM
• undergraduate economics education

JEL CODES:

• A22
• C10

Notes

1 We use the term, “(re-)classification,” throughout to talk about institutions more generally that either reclassified an existing economics program or classified a new economics program as STEM-eligible.

2 The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES n.d.) uses the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) to distinguish academic major programs. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses these CIP codes to designate majors as STEM-eligible or not (see https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2016/stem-list.pdf). For more information on CIP codes, visit https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/Default.aspx?y=56.

3 The initial email was sent August 6, 2019, to the 47 institutions that conferred at least one STEM-eligible degree in 2017; another email was sent February 14, 2020, to the 71 institutions that conferred at least one STEM-eligible degree in 2018. Two institutions on the 2017 list (that responded to the survey) conferred zero STEM-eligible degrees in 2018, so our population comprises 73 institutions who conferred at least one STEM-eligible economics degree in 2017 or 2018.

4 “Is Economics STEM? Process of Reclassification, Requirements, and Quantitative Rigor” (protocol 814) was verified by the Dickinson College Institutional Review Board as exempt according to 45CFR46.101(b)(2): Anonymous Surveys—No Risk on July 20, 2019. A copy of the email is available upon request. We concluded acceptance of survey responses on May 22, 2020.

5 A copy of the survey is available upon request.

6 Usually, departments do not take an active role in reporting to IPEDS. Typically, IPEDS information is collected from the registrar’s office, so these two difference sources are likely the cause of the discrepancy.

7 One institution reported that they reclassified and created a new major, and 3 institutions (7%) responded to this question with “other.”

8 A more-selective institution is defined as one with an acceptance rate below the population mean (in this case, 41.3%). Conversely, a less-selective institution is one with an acceptance rate above the population mean.

9 Institutions and/or departments also have likely considered that DHS could change the qualifications for the STEM-eligible economics CIP code at any time. In addition, the STEM-eligible economics degree could be removed from the STEM list depending on policy.

10 We acknowledge that some departments may be hesitant to cite immigration considerations as a motivating factor for offering a STEM-eligible economics degree for fear of that documentation would have negative ramifications if government agencies found this problematic. However, there also appears to be willingness of some departments and institutions to purposefully advertise the STEM-designation of their major program.

11 We leave for future research whether offering a STEM-eligible economics degree deters students who are not as math-inclined from majoring in economics or attracts new students to economics who are otherwise quantitatively interested. It could also be the case that if institutions offer a traditional and STEM-eligible economics degree that students who are not as quantitatively inclined can self-select into less quantitatively rigorous economics majors.

12 Many institutions offer more than one version of an economics major. In many cases, this distinction is simply a B.A. in economics or a B.S. in economics. In other cases, institutions offered economics, financial economics, and mathematical economics majors. In still other cases, dual degrees (mathematics and economics) or unique majors like international political economy or applied mathematical economics were listed.

13 Some institutions (re)-classifying may ultimately change their upper-level electives, depending on prerequisite requirements in the traditional versus STEM-eligible economics major. We did not ask about required electives and leave this question to future research.

14 We acknowledge that well-informed respondents may classify econometrics courses differently and that the use of “inferential statistics” in our description of basic econometrics (intended to highlight hypothesis testing of regression coefficients) may be a source of uncertainty. For example, some departments may teach a combined introductory statistics and econometrics course. In such a case, it is possible a “Yes” response to both “Economic Statistics” and “Basic Econometrics” is based on a single course. Departments also may allow requirements to be fulfilled in several ways. For instance, a probability and statistics course taken outside the economics department might substitute for economic statistics within the department. While some uncertainty resulting from different interpretations of survey questions is inevitable, our goal in asking for economic statistics, probability and statistics, and basic econometrics separately is to minimize its impact.