Maybe the Issue is not Who Economists Are, but What Economics Is and How it’s Taught: Changing Course Content and Structure to Improve Retention of Women in Undergraduate Economics

Adams and Eves: High school math and the gender gap in Economics majors

“…(2020) present a case study on a newly designed introductory course—based on innovative teaching methods and content presentation—that nearly achieved a gender balance; Avery et al. (2021) report about an intervention on the content and structure of an introductory course that greatly reduced the gender gap in the likelihood of continuing on with Economics.…”

“…The effectiveness of nudges (consisting for instance in encouraging messages) is also controversial, as shown by field experiments conducted in the US: Li (2018) finds a positive effect on female students' probability of majoring in Economics, 2 but Pugatch and Schroeder (2021) report no such effect. Recent papers signal that making introductory courses more attractive represents a promising avenue: Using institutional US data Ahlstrom and Asarta (2019) show that persistence in studying Economics for female students increases with this intervention; Bayer et al (2020) present a case study on a newly designed introductory course-based on innovative teaching methods and content presentation-that nearly achieved a gender balance; Avery et al (2021) report about an intervention on the content and structure of an introductory course that greatly reduced the gender gap in the likelihood of continuing on with Economics.…”