Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/192894 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 285
Publisher: 
University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Zurich
Abstract: 
This paper investigates how high school gender composition affects students' participation in STEM college studies. Using Danish administrative data, we exploit idiosyncratic within-school variation in gender composition. We find that having a larger proportion of female peers reduces women's probability of enrolling in and graduating from STEM programs. Men's STEM participation increases with more female peers present. In the long run, women exposed to more female peers earn less because they (1) are less likely to work in STEM occupations, and (2) have more children. Our findings show that the school peer environment has lasting effects on occupational sorting and the gender wage gap.
Subjects: 
Gender
peer effects
STEM studies
JEL: 
I21
J16
J31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.