Are Sociocultural Factors Important for Studying a Science University Major?

Aderonke Osikominu, Volker Grossmann and Marius Osterfeld

VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: This paper examines the role of the sociocultural background of students as measured by both religious denomination and political attitudes towards gender equality and science-related issues in their home environment for choosing STEM fields in university. Our empirical estimates are based on a structural Roy model which accounts for differences in costs (distance to the next technical niversity) and earnings across majors as well as for selection bias. Our findings suggest that male students from conservative and Catholic municipalities are more likely to study a STEM field, whereas the sociocultural background plays little role for the major choice of females.

JEL-codes: C35 I20 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/100404/1/VfS_2014_pid_592.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Are Sociocultural Factors Important for Studying a Science University Major? (2015)
Working Paper: Are sociocultural factors important for studying a science university major? (2015)
Working Paper: Are Sociocultural Factors Important for Studying a Science University Major? (2015)
Working Paper: Are sociocultural factors important for studying a science university major? (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100404

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