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American Economic Review Vol. 107 No. 5 2017

Some Lasting Effects of Undergraduate Economics on Retirement Planning

William Bosshardt1; William B.Walstad2

1 Department of Economics, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431 (e-mail: ) · 2 Department of Economics, 339 College of Business, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588 (e-mail: )

Abstract

This study investigated the likely effects of undergraduate economics on whether a college graduate has opened a retirement account four years after graduation. Economic education is measured by the number of economics credit hours or whether a college graduate had majored in economics. Additional control variables for the logit analyses include occupation differences, employment record, and some demographics. Completing an undergraduate course in economics is significantly associated with having a retirement account, and economics majors are more likely than some other majors to have a retirement account. The analysis uses college transcript data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond study ( nces.ed.gov/surveys/b&b/ ).

DOI
10.1257/aer.p20171068
Volume
107
Issue
5
Pages
650-654
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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