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Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991 to 2002Author(s): John J. SiegfriedSource: The Journal of Economic Education, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Summer, 2003), pp. 291-294Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30042551 .

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T r e n d s in UndergraduateconomicsD e g r e e s , 1 9 9 1 t o 2 0 0 2

John J. SiegfriedKey word:undergraduateconomics degreesJEL code: A2

Following a one-year lull, the recovery in undergraduate conomics degreesfrom the precipitousdecline in the early 1990s regainedsubstantialmomentumin 2001-02. After six consecutiveyearsof growth,all but7 of the 30 percentagepoints lost from 1992 to 1996 now have been recovered. The big news for2001-02, however,is that large flagship public universitiesfinally havejoinedthe recovery.Indeed,they are now leading it.

Undergraduate egrees awardedfor the last 12 academic years by 207 U.S.colleges and universitiesarereported n Table1, subdividedby institutional on-trol, highest degree offered in economics, and selectivity. The number in thistable is 59 percent of the undergraduateeconomics degrees reported for1999-2000 by theDepartmentof Education'sNationalCenter or EducationSta-tistics, the most recent year available. Depending on how double and triplemajorsare counted(Siegfried2002), this sample probablyaccountsfor anywherefrom43 to 59 percentof the nation'sundergraduateconomics degrees.The sample is "opportunistic"ather hanrandom, n that it consists of insti-tutionswilling and able to report heir earneddegrees.Fortunately,he sampleislarge,and the time series reportsdegreesawarded or the identical set of institu-tions over the entireperiod. Last year's report (Siegfried 2002) was based on asampleof 148. Nineteen of those 148 institutions ailed to reportthis year.For-tunately,on the basis of a concerted effort and the cooperationof many depart-ment chairs and administrative ssistants,I have been able to add 78 new insti-tutions to the database his year.Annual rates of change in the numberof earned bachelorsdegrees arereport-ed in Table 2. Although all of the 2001-02 deficit in annualdegrees vis-h-vis1990-91 remains at public universities, each category of public institutionsmade a substantialgain last year.If 2002-03 mimics 2001-02, the entire deficitfrom the early 1990s will be eliminated,and2002-03 will be a recordpost-1990year for undergraduatedegrees in economics. Private universities awardingPh.D.s in economics and selective private iberal artscolleges continue to reportthe most growthin undergraduate conomics degrees since 1990-91. Econom-

John J. Siegfried is a professor of economics at VanderbiltUniversity(e-mail:john.siegfried@ anderbilt.edu).Summer 003 291

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TABLE1.Number

ofBaccalaureate

Degrees

inEconomics

Awarded

byColleges

andUniversities

200 JOURNAL FECONOMICDUCATION

1990-

1991-

1992-

1993-

1994-

1995-

1996-

1997-

1998-

1999-

2000-

2001-

Institution

n

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Publicinstitutions

1078201

8474

7525

6531

5714

5275

5296

5595

5603

6146

6246

7272

(26.6)

(26.5)

(26.8)

(24.7)

(25.4)

(25.8)

(27.6)

(28.2)

(29.3)

(29.4)(30.1)

(30.4)

Ph.D.

475847

5982

5457

4661

4130

3806

3882

4119

4242

4525

4699

5474

(27.0)

(27.7)

(27.5)

(25.1)

(26.3)

(26.7)

(28.7)

(28.6)

(30.0)

(30.3)(31.0)

(31.5)

M.A.

241368

1516

1170

1030

904

814

686

679

597

703

749

839

(26.5)

(22.5)

(24.0)

(24.2)

(24.9)

(24.8)

(29.3)

(27.1)

(27.3)

(29.2)(30.6)

(30.0)

Bachelors

36986

976

898

840

680

655

728

797

764

918

798

959

(24.2)

(25.6)

(25.9)

(23.1)

(20.4)

(22.1)

(19.9)

(26.6)

(27.1)

(24.7)(24.8)

(24.9)

Privateinstitutions

1004995

4824

4404

4175

3889

4000

4188

4334

4664

4776

4771

5108

(33.9)

(32.8)

(33.8)

(34.8)

(33.8)

(33.5)

(33.2)

(33.7)

(35.9)

(34.8)(37.9)

(36.4)

Ph.D.

222295

2173

2043

1936

1764

1842

2021

2043

2271

2296

2299

2482

(30.7)

(29.5)

(31.7)

(33.4)

(31.8)

(29.8)

(29.5)

(31.2)

(34.0)

(33.4)(35.8)

(36.3)

Selective

liberalarts'

472098

2027

1909

1792

1702

1791

1821

1933

2103

2130

2096

2236

(38.3)

(36.0)

(36.8)

(36.8)

(35.8)

(37.3)

(37.3)

(36.4)

(37.4)

(36.5)(40.4)

(36.4)

Otherbachelors

31602

624

452

447

423

367

346

358

290

350

376

390

(30.7)

(33.5)

(31.2)

(32.2)

(34.5)

(33.5)

(32.7)

(33.5)

(40.0)

(34.0)(37.2)

(36.9)

Totalsample

20713196

13298

11929

10706

9603

9275

9484

9929

10267

10922

11017

12380

(29.4)

(28.8)

(29.4)

(28.6)

(28.8)

(29.1)

(30.0)

(30.6)

(32.3)

(31.8)(33.5)

(32.9)

1U.S.News

&WorldReport1stor2ndtier"national

liberalartscolleges."

Source:Author's

surveyfor1991through

1999andtheAmerican

Economic

Association

Universal

Academic

Questionnaire

supplemented

byasurveyfor

2000-2002.otes:Numbers

inparentheses

arepercentages

ofdegreesearnedbywomen.

Ph.D.andM.A.indicates

thehighesteconomics

degreeofferedbytheinstitution.



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TABLE2.Percentage

Change

inNumber

ofEconomics

Baccalaureate

Degrees

Awarded

Institution

1990-91

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-00

2000-01

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

to

2001-02

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-00

2000-01

2001-02

Publicinstitutions

-11.3

3.3-11.2

-13.2

-12.5

-7.7

0.4

5.6

0.1

9.7

1.6

16.4

Ph.D.

-6.4

2.3

-8.8

-14.6

-11.4

-7.8

2.0

6.1

3.0

6.7

3.8

16.5

M.A.

-38.7

10.8

-22.8

-12.0

-12.2

-10.0

-15.7

-1.0

-12.1

17.8

6.5

12.0

Bachelors

-2.7

-1.0

-8.0

-6.5

-19.0

-3.7

11.1

9.5

-4.1

20.2

-13.1

20.2

Privateinstitutions

2.3

-3.4

-8.7

-5.2

-6.9

2.9

4.7

3.5

7.6

2.4

-0.1

7.1

Ph.D.

8.1

-5.3

-6.0

-5.2

-8.9

4.4

9.7

1.1

11.2

1.1

0.1

8.0

Selective

liberalarts'

6.6

-3.4

-5.8

-6.1

-5.0

5.2

1.7

6.2

8.8

1.3

-1.6

6.7

Otherbachelors

-35.2

3.7-27.6

-1.1

-5.4

-13.2

-5.7

3.5

-19.0

20.7

7.4

3.7

Totalsample

-6.2

0.8-10.3

-10.3

-10.3

-3.4

2.34.7

3.4

6.4

0.9

12.4

'U.S.News

&WorldReport1stor2ndtier"national

liberalartscolleges."

Source:

Table1.

Note:Ph.D.andM.A.indicates

thehighestdegree

ineconomics

offeredbytheinstitution.

293ummer 2003



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ics appearsto be growing in popularityat those institutions whereundergradu-ate admission is most selective.The percentageof undergraduate egrees in economics awarded o women is

reported n parenthesesnTable1. It continuesto hover around30 percentatpub-lic universitiesand 36 percentat privatecolleges anduniversities which includeseveral all-women's colleges). Women continue to be least well-representedamong those earningan undergraduateconomics degree at regional state uni-versities that do not offer any advanceddegrees in economics.

REFERENCESiegfried,J. J. 2002. Trends n undergraduateconomics degrees, 1991 to 2001. JournalofEconom-ic Education 33 (Summer):291-94.

294 JOURNALOF ECONOMICEDUCATION


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