We investigate the wage return to studying economics by leveraging a policy that prevented students with low introductory grades from declaring a major. Students who barely met the grade point average threshold to major in economics earned $22,000 (46 percent) higher annual early-career wages than they would have with their second-choice majors. Access to the economics major shifts students' preferences toward business/finance careers, and about half of the wage return is explained by economics majors working in higher-paying industries. The causal return to majoring in economics is very similar to observational earnings differences in nationally representative data. (JEL A22, I26, J24, J31)

中文翻译：

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学习经济学会让你变得富有吗？大学专业收益的回归不连续性分析

我们通过利用一项防止入门成绩低的学生宣布专业的政策来调查学习经济学的工资回报。几乎没有达到经济学专业平均绩点门槛的学生在职业生涯早期的年薪比他们的第二选择专业高出 22,000 美元（46%）。进入经济学专业会改变学生对商业/金融职业的偏好，大约一半的工资回报是由在高薪行业工作的经济学专业解释的。主修经济学的因果回报与全国代表性数据中的观察收入差异非常相似。(JEL A22, I26, J24, J31)