26 September 2023

BETA boost for female economists

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The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) has issued a BETA report (Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government) on a mentoring program for women hoping to become economists.

In 2018‑19, BETA joined with the Australian National University and ACT Women in Economics Network to establish the mentoring program for women economics students, matching them with mid‑level or senior women economists.

In a statement, PM&C said the program aimed to encourage students to continue with their economics studies and pursue a career in economics.

“Increasing female representation depends on attracting and retaining women in the ‘economics pipeline’ yet this is not occurring in practice,” the Department said.

The program sought to address this by providing students with a role model, a broader perspective on career options for economics graduates, and an insight into the practical applications of economics.

“BETA evaluated the mentoring program using a randomised controlled trial, drawing on a combination of university administrative data and surveys at the commencement and conclusion of the program,” PM&C said.

It said students in the mentoring program were around 13 percentage points more likely to continue with economics, when compared with a control group, although this estimate was imprecise due to the small sample size.

“In an end-of-program survey, 70 per cent of student respondents agreed they were more likely to pursue a job in economics due to the program,” the Department said.

“While each source of evidence, individually, has limitations, taken together the evidence suggests the mentoring program had a material impact on students’ decisions to continue with economics,” it said.

The full 43-page BETA report can be accessed at this PS News link.

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