The Economics Major: A Cross-Sectional View

Factors Underlying Trends in Economics Majors: A Cause for Concern?

“…The significance of this result must be tempered by the fact that the number of liberal arts institutions in our New Jersey sample is small (only two). These findings are con sistent with the findings of other authors such as Willis and Pieper (1996) and Brasfield et al (1996), who have suggested that the decline in business period. Our data also show that economics degrees as a share of total Bachelor degrees awarded declined significantly for both private and public institutions in the 1990s, but by 1992, economics degrees as a share of total bachelor degrees award ed began to decline more at public than at private institutions.…”

The Gender Gap in Economics Degrees: An Investigation of the Role Model and Quantitative Requirements Hypotheses

“…2 In 2013 about three-quarters of economics departments required calculus and just under half required an econometrics course (beyond the basic economic statistics course, required virtually everywhere; Siegfried and Walstad 2014). 3 Willis and Pieper (1996) control for the number of undergraduate degrees conferred, admittance selectivity, institutional type (public, private), whether the institution offered a graduate degree (MA or Ph.D), and whether the institution offered a business, business economics, or other combined economics major. Salemi and Eubanks (1996) posited the "discouraged business major" hypothesis, whereby students screened out from a business degree choose to study economics as a second best alternative.…”

Where Have All the Majors Gone?

“…Whereas Willis and Pieper ( 1996) and Salemi and Eubanks ( 1996) both make thi s point, Margo and Siegfried ( 1996) make the point the focus of their paper. Between 1948 and 1993, the economics share of bachelor's degrees averaged 2.2 percent and completed three cycles.…”