The Factors Influencing the Gender Difference of Students Enrolled in Economics Departments in Korea

초록

This study attempts to resolve the puzzle of gender difference of students applying to economics departments by investigating the factors that seem to influence students’ choice of college major upon graduating high school. First, by analyzing Inha University’s admission data for the academic years of 2008-2017, this study finds that the proportion of male applicants is higher but their GPAs are lower than female applicants applying to the economics department. Second, this study develops a new gender admission index (GAI) as a comprehensive measure and finds that the GAIs are mostly less than 1 for the economics major implying that relatively outstanding female students are applying to the economics department even though the overall proportion of female applicants is lower than that of male applicants for the early entrance examinations. Finally, the results of logistic regressions show that there remain gender gaps even after controlling for the factors such as applicants’ preferences toward economics, high school GPAs, Korean Scholastic Assessment Test (KSAT) scores, and the regions where students’ schools are located. This study also finds that students’ mathematics preparation and preference toward economics are important factors that play a role when choosing economics as their university major.