DOI: 10.3886/e201186v1-159202
title: Data and Code for: Seeking the “Missing Women” of Economics with the Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge

description: Economics is among the most popular undergraduate
majors, especially in top colleges and universities. However, even at the best research
universities and liberal arts colleges men outnumber women by two to one, and
overall there are about 2.5 males to every female economics major. We discuss
why women major in economics less than men and describe a project to increase
the number of female economics majors. The Undergraduate Women in Economics (UWE)
Challenge was a randomized controlled trial, with 20 treatment and 68 control
schools, that we ran for one year in AY 2015-16 to evaluate the impact of light-touch
interventions to recruit and retain female economics majors. Treatment schools
received funding, guidance, and access to networking with other treatment schools
to implement programs such as providing better information to incoming students
about the application of economics, exposing students to role models, providing
mentoring, and updating course content and pedagogy. Using 2001-2021 data from the NCES-Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS) on graduating undergraduates (BAs), we find that
UWE was effective in increasing the fraction of female BAs who majored in
economics relative to men in liberal arts colleges. Large universities did not
show an impact of the treatment, although those that implemented their own RCTs
showed moderate success in encouraging more women to major in economics. We discuss
what we believe worked in the UWE program and speculate on the reasons for
differential treatment impact. <br>
description: None used. <br>
description: Response Rates: There are 344 colleges and universities that graduated on average at least 15 economics majors between 2011-2013. All 344 institutions were sent an invitation letter to participate in the project. 167 institutions (48.5%) responded with interest. Of these, 88 institutions (52.6%) that graduates on average at least 30 economics majors between 2011-2013 were selected for the study randomization. 20 institutions (22.7%) were randomized into the treatment group, the remaining 68 institutions were in the control group. Data for analysis was collected from all 88 institutions (100%). <br>
description: Presence of Common Scales: N/A
description: The study sample of 88 institutions was ordered based on their ranking in the 2011 and 2013 US News & World Report and then split into 4 "clusters" or strata of 22 schools. The selection involved taking five schools randomly from each of the four clusters. <br>
description: Figure 1: "top-100" institutions (universities and liberal arts colleges) in the United States from the combined 2011 and 2013 US News and World Report rankings. Figure 2: all institutions granting at least one undergraduate degree in economics in the United States; "top-100" institutions (universities and liberal arts colleges) in the United States from the combined 2011 and 2013 US News and World Report rankings. Figure 3: 88 institutions (20 treatment and 68 control institutions) included in the study. <br><br>Table 1: 88 institutions (20 treatment and 68 control institutions) included in the study (sub-samples specified in the columns and table notes).<br>Graph in Online Appendix 2: liberal arts colleges in the 88-institution study sample. <br>Table in Online Appendix 5: 88 institutions (20 treatment and 68 control institutions) included in 
the study (sub-samples specified in the columns and table notes).<br><br><br>.