Why do peers influence college major selection?
Why do peers influence people's choices? Is it for information (social learning) or for socializing (social utility)? Exploiting unique data and natural experiments from the United States Naval Academy (USNA), we analyze data on major selections of USNA students. We find peers influence students int...
| Publicado en: | Economic Inquiry Vol. 63; no. 3; pp. 715 - 740 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Jul2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=186251387&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 186251387 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00952583 EIQ jtl: Economic Inquiry issn: 00952583 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jul2025 vid: 63 iid: 3 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 186251387 10.1111/ecin.13294 ppf: 715 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P size: 644KB tig: atl: Why do peers influence college major selection? aug: au: Insler, Michael A. Rahman, Ahmed S. Smith, Katherine A. affil: Department of Economics, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland,, USA Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem Pennsylvania,, USA su: Peer pressure Social learning Peers Naval education College majors sug: subj: Peer pressure Social learning Peers Naval education College majors keyword: herding higher education major selection peer effects social utility herding higher education major selection peer effects social utility ab: Why do peers influence people's choices? Is it for information (social learning) or for socializing (social utility)? Exploiting unique data and natural experiments from the United States Naval Academy (USNA), we analyze data on major selections of USNA students. We find peers influence students into selecting different academic paths than they would have chosen independently. Through random reassignments, "shot‐guns", of students into new peer groups along with random assignments into courses, we explore the reasons why herding occurs. Evidence suggests that social learning, as opposed to social utility, is an important driver for herding behavior. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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