Agree or Disagree and Why?

By utilizing the "do what you are good at" approach we see how a marginal cost-benefit analysis is made worse when choosing a field of study in comparison to how well students are graded on various subjects. A blog by Sean Stevens states that a greater male variability in most characteristics show that males are overrepresented in the upper and lower tails of such distributions (2017). This means that the number of men far exceed that of women in these studies, therefore skewing the results because of the differences in population level distribution. Froeb indicates in his blog that if MCmath> MCenglishfor females, then the marginal costs of doing math is greater than that of English, so they devote more effort to English because the marginal benefit is not worth the investment. This hubris will lead many to voice their opinion that the statement is sexist or unfair, which it does indeed sound like, but Froeb goes on to say that the statement ignores the hidden benefits of studying Math and that it is more likely that (MRmath- MCmath) is greater than (MRenglish- MCenglish). This means that the return on "investment" in choosing Math is much greater than choosing English. Why does this happen? Well, Tabarrok states in an article that when we consider the gender-equality paradox, the countries with the highest levels of equality tend to have the lowest ratios of women to men in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education. While this is one reason it does not mean it is the only reason in gender inequality in relation to STEM. Perhaps it is our way of approach that leads many to pursue their fields of study. In the end, if we change our way of thinking and look at the marginal revenue (MR) of a field of study rather than the marginal cost (MC), we can enable a shift in the gender equality paradox as it pertains to STEM program.

References

Stevens,S. (2017, September 4). The greater male variability hypothesis - An addendum to our post on the Google memo - Heterodox Academy.Heterodox Academy.https://heterodoxacademy.org/the-greater-male-variability-hypothesis/

Tabarrok,A. (2018, September 17).Do boys have a comparative advantage in math and science?Marginal REVOLUTION.https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/09/boys-comparative-advantage-math-science.html