Competition, coursework and careers : understanding diversity gaps in technology

Gender and racial gaps ("diversity gaps") in technology are a persistent problem, starting early and continuing in the labor force. As technology plays an increasingly important role inside and outside the classroom, it is important to address diversity gaps in this rapidly expanding and influential field. This dissertation will address gender and racial inequalities in technology, with two papers specifically focusing on computer science. The first paper provides an overview of the racial and gender trends in computer science higher education and the technology labor force in the Silicon Valley, exploring whether pipeline and wage arguments can help explain these trends. I use publicly available data from the census, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Open Doors surveys (Open Doors) for these analyses. While there has been dramatic demographic change in technology, racial and gender disparities still remain. Main findings suggest that different barriers exist for different race-gender groups. White females' share of degree completions in computer science declined from 1985 to 2015; this trend is mirrored in their declining share among programmers, which supports a pipeline argument that there are too few white females majoring in STEM. Patterns associated with other groups do not necessarily align with the pipeline argument. The most salient example is that Hispanic males have become an increasingly large proportion of degree completers in computer science, yet their representation in the programmer labor force has declined. The second paper uses an experiment to measure gender differences in a competitive STEM situation using a behavioral economic framework. Results confirm that males are more competitive than females, which is one explanation for gender differences in STEM; however, males appear to lower their performance when facing harder competition while females are unaffected by the level of competition. These somewhat surprising results show that females may not necessarily be disadvantaged in more competitive STEM settings, even though they may not choose into them. This suggests that STEM policies that encourage or compel participation may not be detrimental to female achievement. The third paper examines the effects of recent K-12 CS state-level policy. Allowing CS to count towards an academic high school graduation requirement has become an accepted policy in the majority of states, yet it is unclear what, if any, effects this policy has on student enrollment in CS courses. It is important to examine whether there are differences by gender or race to see whether this policy improves or contributes to existing diversity gaps in CS. I use a triple difference identification strategy, leveraging the cohort-based adoption of Texas' CS graduation policy and concurrent trends in enrollment in an unaffected subject (AP Psychology). Enrollment in AP CS appears unaffected for most student groups, and negative for White males and females. In addition, I conduct spillover analyses on mathematics courses, to see whether math course enrollment goes down (negative spillover) or goes up (positive spillover) as a result of the CS policy. Although there are negative spillovers for certain groups in AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics, there are positive spillover effects for certain Latina and Black females in Pre-calculus but not in AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC or AP Statistics. These results underscore that this policy does not have the intended effects of increasing participation in CS.

Keywords: Education.
Advisor: Carnoy Martin 
Wotipka Christine 
Loyalka Prashant 
Niederle Muriel