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Double Majors: One For Me, One For The Parents?

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  • BASIT ZAFAR
Abstract
At least a quarter of college students in the United States graduate with more than one undergraduate major. This article investigates how students choose the composition of their majors conditional on pursuing more than one major, that is, whether the majors that they choose are substitutes or complements. As the students use both their preferences and expectations about the realizations of future major‐specific outcomes when choosing their college majors, I collect innovative data on subjective expectations from a sample of Northwestern University sophomores. Although there is substantial heterogeneity in beliefs across students, they seem to be aware of differences across majors and have sensible beliefs about the outcomes conditional on major. Students believe that their parents are more likely to approve majors associated with high social status and high returns in the labor market. I incorporate the subjective data in a choice model of double majors that also captures the notion of specialization. I find that enjoying studying the coursework and gaining approval of parents are the most important determinants in the choice of majors. The model estimates reject the hypothesis that students major in one field to pursue their own interests and in another for parents' approval. Instead I find that gaining parents' approval and enjoying studying and working in a field of study are outcomes that are important for both majors in a student's major pair. However, I do find that students act strategically in their choice of majors by choosing majors that differ in their chances of completion and difficulty, and in finding a job upon graduation. (JEL D8, I2, J1)

Suggested Citation

  • Basit Zafar, 2012. "Double Majors: One For Me, One For The Parents?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 287-308, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:50:y:2012:i:2:p:287-308
    DOI: j.1465-7295.2011.00403.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Huntington‐Klein, 2018. "College Choice As A Collective Decision," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1202-1219, April.
    2. Timothy M. Diette & Manu Raghav, 2014. "A Student’s Dilemma: Is There a Traoff-off Between a Higher Salary or Higher GPA," Working Papers 2014-01, DePauw University, School of Business and Leadership and Department of Economics and Management.
    3. Qiong Zhu & Liang Zhang, 2021. "Effects of a Double Major on Post-Baccalaureate Outcomes," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 146-169, Winter.
    4. Xia, Xiaoyu, 2016. "Forming wage expectations through learning: Evidence from college major choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(PA), pages 176-196.
    5. Arpita Patnaik & Matthew J. Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2020. "College Majors," NBER Working Papers 27645, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Pamela Giustinelli, 2022. "Expectations in Education: Framework, Elicitation, and Evidence," Working Papers 2022-026, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    7. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 635-658, December.
    8. Wendy A. Stock, 2017. "Trends in Economics and Other Undergraduate Majors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 644-649, May.
    9. repec:dew:wpaper:2014-02 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Carlos Madeira, 2020. "Measuring the perceived value of an MBA degree," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 876, Central Bank of Chile.
    11. Pamela Giustinelli & Charles F. Manski, 2018. "Survey Measures Of Family Decision Processes For Econometric Analysis Of Schooling Decisions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 81-99, January.
    12. Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Can perceived returns explain enrollment gaps in postgraduate education?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Joseph G. Altonji & Peter Arcidiacono & Arnaud Maurel, 2015. "The Analysis of Field Choice in College and Graduate School: Determinants and Wage Effects," NBER Working Papers 21655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Andrew S. Hanks & Kevin M. Kniffin & Xuechao Qian & Bo Wang & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2022. "First Foot Forward: A Two-Step Econometric Method for Parsing and Estimating the Impacts of Multiple Identities," NBER Working Papers 30293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Natalie Obergruber, 2018. "Microeconometric Analysis of Individual and Institutional Determinants of Education and Occupational Choice," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 80.
    16. Aydede Yigit, 2020. "Assortative preferences in choice of major," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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