What You Don't Know Might Deter You: The Effect of Information Provision on Minority Retention in Undergraduate Economics

Abstract

This large-scale randomized controlled trial tests whether a low-touch information intervention in an undergraduate Principles of Microeconomics course can help overcome barriers to entry in undergraduate Economics for underrepresented minority (URM) students. I find that providing students with information about potential careers, income, research topics, and diversity in the field of Economics increases the likelihood of enrolling in a subsequent Economics course for URM students by around 12.3 percentage points and that the information induces primarily lower-performing students to enroll. These results suggest that information may have the potential to overcome barriers imposed by low course performance in introductory Economics courses.