arbiter
JournalsAccount

The effect of high school gender composition on university major choice: Evidence from Canada

Yu Wang

Economic Inquiry2026https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70057article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Does the gender composition of high school peers affect whether students pursue a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major at university? Using administrative data from British Columbia, Canada, I exploit idiosyncratic within‐school variation in gender composition. I find that having larger proportions of female peers has large and strong effects on students' STEM major choice. Such effects differ in both sign and magnitude across gender, high school type, and stage of high school education.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70057

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{yu2026,
  title        = {{The effect of high school gender composition on university major choice: Evidence from Canada}},
  author       = {Yu Wang},
  journal      = {Economic Inquiry},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70057},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The effect of high school gender composition on university major choice: Evidence from Canada

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.