Industry Fluctuations and College Major Choices: Evidence from an Energy Boom and Bust

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines how college students in the United States altered their college major decisions during the energy boom and bust of the 1970s and 1980s. We focus on petroleum engineering and geology, two majors closely related to the energy industry. We find strong evidence that the energy boom increased the prevalence of these two energy-related majors and the energy bust lowered the prevalence of these majors. Effects are particularly strong for young people born in energy intensive states. Thus, college major decisions responded to industry fluctuations with important location-specific effects consistent with frictions to migration and information flows.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12614

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Demand and Supply of Labor: General ; Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers: General ; General Regional Economics (includes Regional Data)
• Thema: college major ; human capital ; higher education ; energy boom ; energy bust

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Han, Luyi ; Winters, John V.
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2019

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/207439
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ