AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Undergraduate Economics
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 110–14)
Abstract
This paper reports the results of a field experiment involving 2,710 students across nine US colleges, in which faculty provided incoming women and URM students with information about economics. We randomly assign students to one of three conditions: a control (no email messaging), a Welcome treatment (two emails encouraging students to consider enrolling in economics courses), and a Welcome+Info treatment (which added information showcasing the diversity of research and researchers within economics). The Welcome+Info treatment increases the likelihood of completing an economics course in the first semester of college by 3.0 percentage points, nearly 20 percent of the base rate.Citation
Bayer, Amanda, Syon P. Bhanot, and Fernando Lozano. 2019. "Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Undergraduate Economics." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 110–14. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191097Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- A22 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Undergraduate
- C93 Field Experiments
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness