Are Business and Economics Alike?

Carmen Aina (), Chiara Mussida and Gabriele Lombardi ()
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Carmen Aina: Università del Piemonte Orientale and GLO - Dipartimento di Studi per l’Economica e l’Impresa
Gabriele Lombardi: Università Degli Studi Di Siena

Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, 2023, vol. 9, issue 2, No 6, 557-585

Abstract: Abstract Using administrative data on the entire Italian population of students at their first enrolment in the tertiary system during the academic years 2008–2014, we investigate the major choice process and the subsequent behaviour after the first academic year, namely university persistence, switching major or dropout, of students enrolled in two majors perceived as similar, that are Economics and Business. We investigate the two sequential stages separately for the universes of Economics and Business students. Our main findings suggest that on average, well-prepared students are more likely to switch major than dropout. Moreover, a better student intake at degree level entails a progressive reduction in dropout rates. Likewise, a peer group more homogeneous in terms of academic grades has a higher propensity to stay in the initial major, whereas a student cohort characterised by high competitiveness, proxied by the number of credits achieved, is less persistent, especially once enrolled in Economics.

Keywords: University persistence; Major choice; Major switching; Dropout; Peers~measures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C30 I20 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s40797-021-00177-w

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