Why Are Women Such Reluctant Economists? Evidence from Liberal Arts Colleges
利用多校样本，调查学生特征和态度如何与教师教学法及院系特征互动，影响女性本科生在入门经济学课程后继续学习的决策。
Female undergraduates are less likely to take an introductory economics class, to continue in economics after completing the first introductory course, and to major in economics than are male undergraduates. Although these gender differences are well documented, the reasons why females are such reluctant economists are less well understood. Some have suggested that the mainstream economics curriculum excludes topics and methodology of interest to women, while others have focused on a classroom environment that is unfriendly to women. Other suspected reasons for the gender gap in economics classes are poorer math preparation of female students, poorer relative performance in economics classes, and less overall interest in the topic due to different career aspirations. Finally, the pedagogy and types of evaluative instruments traditionally used in economics classes may favor male learning styles, contributing to the large percentage of disinterested women.1 Using a large multi-school sample, we investigate how students ' characteristics and attitudes interact with the instructor's pedagogy and certain departmental and college level characteristics to influence students ’ decisions to continue in economics beyond the first semester. We find that, while attitudes formed prior to taking introductory economics affect students'