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On the Effect of Business and Economic University Education on Political Ideology: An Empirical Note

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  • Manthos D. Delis

    (University of Surrey)

  • Iftekhar Hasan

    (Fordham University
    Bank of Finland
    University of Sydney)

  • Maria Iosifidi

    (University of Surrey)

Abstract

We empirically test the hypothesis that a major in economics, management, business administration or accounting (for simplicity referred to as Business/Economics) leads to more-conservative (right-wing) political views. We use a panel dataset of individuals (repeated observations for the same individuals over time) living in the Netherlands, drawing data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences from 2008 through 2013. Our results show that when using a simple fixed effects model, which fully controls for individuals’ time-invariant traits, any statistically and quantitatively significant effect of a major in Business/Economics on the Political Ideology of these individuals disappears. We posit that, at least in our sample, there is no evidence for a causal effect of a major in Business/Economics on individuals’ Political Ideology.

Suggested Citation

  • Manthos D. Delis & Iftekhar Hasan & Maria Iosifidi, 2019. "On the Effect of Business and Economic University Education on Political Ideology: An Empirical Note," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 809-822, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:155:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3483-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3483-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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