Data and Code for: Can Positive Feedback Encourage Female and Minority Undergraduates into Economics?

This paper examines a field experiment that attempts to nudge undergraduate women and students from underrepresented race/ethnic groups into studying economics by providing positive feedback. A random sample of students earning a grade of B or better in an introductory economics course were sent a personalized letter that invites them to an informational meeting on economics majors and associated career opportunities, and that also praises their performance in the course and suggests that an economics major might be of interest to them. Control letters that included the meeting invitation but excluded the explicit encouragement to consider an economics major were sent to other students. Receiving this performance feedback, or “nudge'', increased the probability that both male and female students attended the informational meeting. It also increased the number of women entering the Economics and Accounting Major by about five percentage points and induced about the same proportion of men to enter the Economics Major (but with no significant increase in the total in both majors). Most striking is the substantial increase in the number of treated Hispanic students, particularly women, who chose the Economics and Accounting major.<br><br><br><br><br>