INEQ organises a research seminar series, which centers on empirical research on the causes and consequences of (socio-)economic inequalities and their measurement, from both micro- and macro perspectives. As INEQ is a multidisciplinary institute, we welcome contributions across social science disciplines.

On May 12th, Alessandro Toppeta (SOFI, Stockholm University) will present at the Economics of Inequality Research Seminar. He will discuss the paper "High School Majors and Cognitive Skill Development".

Abstract

This paper examines the causal effect of high school majors on cognitive skills. We compare students just above and below GPA admission cutoffs using a regression discontinuity design and find that fields of study at age 16 impact cognitive skills around age 18. Admission to STEM relative to non-academic programs raises both crystallized and fluid cognitive skills by about 0.05 standard deviations, while admission to business, social sciences, and humanities (BSH) relative to STEM lowers both by 0.10 standard deviations. Analyses of test components indicate that STEM programs particularly foster spatial reasoning and technical problem-solving skills.

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