Authors
Graziella Bertocchi, Luca Bonacini, Marina Murat
Publication date
2023/10
Journal
Economic Inquiry
Volume
61
Issue
4
Pages
798-817
Description
Why so few women graduate in Economics? We investigate the gender gap among Italian university graduates in Economics between 2010 and 2019. With women's probability of graduating in Economics being 27% lower than men's, the gap is larger than in Business and even STEM. The association between the gender gap and the mathematical content of high school curricula is especially strong in Economics. A triple difference analysis shows that a reform raising the mathematical content of traditionally low math curricula caused an increase in the gender gap, with women's probability of graduating in Economics decreasing by 12 percentage points.
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