Dear colleagues, We hereby invite you to join our next Economics of Inequality Research Seminar<https://www.wu.ac.at/en/ineq/outreach/ineq-research-seminar> at WU Vienna. Alessandro Toppeta<https://sites.google.com/view/alessandro-toppeta> (SOFI, Stockholm University) will present the paper High School Majors and Cognitive Skill Development. Date and Time: Monday, April 27; 3.00 p.m. Location: WU Vienna, EA.5.040<https://campus.wu.ac.at/?q=EA.5.040>. Abstract This paper examines the causal effect of high school majors on cognitive skills. We compare students just above and below GPA admission cutoffs using a regression discontinuity design and find that fields of study at age 16 impact cognitive skills around age 18. Admission to STEM relative to non-academic programs raises both crystallized and fluid cognitive skills by about 0.05 standard deviations, while admission to business, social sciences, and humanities (BSH) relative to STEM lowers both by 0.10 standard deviations. Analyses of test components indicate that STEM programs particularly foster spatial reasoning and technical problem-solving skills. Please register your participation here<https://www.wu.ac.at/en/ineq/outreach/ineq-research-seminar/registrationtoppeta>. Best regards, Franziska Disslbacher ---- Franziska Disslbacher, PhD Assistant Professor Institute for Spatial & Social-Ecological Transformations & Research Institute Economics of Inequality WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria LSE International Inequalities Institute – Research Fellow | Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality CUNY | SOEP / DIW – Associated Researcher World Inequality Lab PSE– Research Fellow +43 1 313 36 6669 franziska.disslbacher@wu.ac.at<mailto:franziska.disslbacher@wu.ac.at> franziskadisslbacher.com<http://franziskadisslbacher.com>