Geoscience attracts few African American and Hispanic/Latino students to the major and has historically not retained women at the same rate as men. Many factors have been proposed to explain these disparities but no quantitative study addressed geoscience diversity at the undergraduate level. To examine potential barriers to recruitment and retention, we interviewed geoscience majors from two large public universities in the U.S. and gathered 'critical incidents,' or life experiences that affected choice of a geoscience major. Critical incidents were classified by time period (when they occurred), grouped by outcome, sorted into categories, and compared by race/ethnicity and gender. Three manuscripts -- each involving different analyses of the critical incident dataset -- comprise this dissertation. Among many findings, our study showed that that white, Hispanic/Latino, and African American students reported different types of experiences affecting major choice while growing up. For instance, 81% of white students reported outdoor experiences (e.g., camping, hiking) as children, whereas Hispanics (33%) and African Americans (22%) reported significantly fewer outdoor experiences from the same time period. Men and women geoscience majors also reported differences. In one example, men (92%) reported at least one positive experience involving career and economics factors; far fewer women (50%) reported the same. Our results can inform recruiting and retention practices. Geoscience programs can provide field trips for all prospective majors, target on-campus advertising towards diverse student groups, meet with academic advisors of incoming freshmen to encourage African American and Hispanic students to enroll in introductory geology courses, and provide major and career information to parents of prospective majors. To better recruit and retain women, geoscience programs can emphasize other, non-economic factors when advertising the degree, promoting internships, and developing field and academic experiences.

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία διερευνήθηκε η επιλογή των πρωτοετών φοιτητών αναφορικά με το τμήμα της πανεπιστημιακής τους εκπαίδευσης στην Ελλάδα. Ειδικότερα, αυτή η επιλογή αξιολογείται μέσω δυο μεταβλητών. Η πρώτη αφορά το αντικείμενο σπουδών με βάση το επιστημονικό περιεχόμενο του προγράμματος σπουδών και η δεύτερη αφορά τις προεξοφλημένες αποδόσεις ανά αντικείμενο σπουδών. Για λόγους εκτίμησης χρησιμοποιήθηκαν δεδομένα για το έτος 2006 από το Ατομικό Δελτίο Φοιτητή-Σπουδαστή της Ελληνικής Στατιστικής Αρχής (Ελ.ΣΤΑΤ) και εφαρμόστηκαν υποδείγματα διακριτής επιλογής με διάταξη (ordered probit) αλλά και χωρίς διάταξη (binary probit). Ως επεξηγηματικές μεταβλητές χρησιμοποιήθηκαν το επίπεδο εκπαίδευσης, το επάγγελμα των γονέων και μια ευρεία δέσμη δημογραφικών μεταβλητών (ηλικία, φύλο, τόπος γέννησης, κ.λπ.). Όπως προέκυψε από τα αποτελέσματα της οικονομετρικής ανάλυσης η επιλογή του πανεπιστημιακού τμήματος (είτε με βάση το αντικείμενο σπουδών είτε με βάση τις προεξοφλημένες αποδόσεις) επηρεάζεται σημαντικά από το οικογενειακό υπόβαθρο (εκπαίδευση, επάγγελμα) του πρωτοετή φοιτητή. Επίσης, διερευνήθηκε η σχέση μεταξύ του οικογενειακού εισοδήματος και της επιλογής πανεπιστημιακού τμήματος με βάση τις μελλοντικές αποδόσεις και βρέθηκε να υπάρχει μια θετική και στατιστικά σημαντική σχέση μεταξύ αυτών των δυο μεταβλητών. Με βάση τα αποτελέσματα της παρούσας εργασίας, η δια-γενεακή κινητικότητα στην Ελλάδα (που σχετίζεται με την επιλογή του πανεπιστημιακού τμήματος από τους πρωτοετείς φοιτητές) αναμένεται να είναι χαμηλή. / In this thesis is investigated the choice of the university major of study of the Greek freshmen. Specifically, this choice of major is assessed through two variables. The first is the object of study based on the scientific content of the curriculum and the second is the discounted returns of education per major of study. For assessment purposes we used data for the year 2006 from the Greek statistic authority (el.stat)and we applied discrete choice models by order (ordered probit) and also without order (binary probit). As explanatory variables are used the educational attainment and occupation of parents as well as a wide range of demographic variables (age,sex,place of birth, etc). As the results of the econometric analysis demonstrate the choice of university department(regardless the type of the discrete choice model we use) is significantly influenced by the family background and their social class. It is also investigated the relationship between family income and choice of university department based on future earnings and is found to be a positive and statistically significant relationship between these two variables. Based on the results of this study the intergenerational mobility in Greece (associated with the major of study the freshmen choose) is expected to be low.

Despite the growing body of research in related disciplines, including economics, management, politics, psychology, and sociology, marketing research has largely overlooked the downstream consequences of economic inequality, despite its undeniable impact on individuals' consumption decisions and experiences. This dissertation endeavors to bridge this knowledge gap by uncovering two novel consumer consequences of economic inequality. To accomplish this, it draws upon a diverse range of data sources, including individual-level experimental and survey data, as well as aggregate-level transaction and census data. Additionally, it examines economic inequality across multiple levels, encompassing communities, counties, states, and countries, and operationalizes it both as objective and perceived economic inequality. In Essay 1, I investigate how economic inequality in a consumer's region affects their access to peer-to-peer (P2P) services. Across diverse types of P2P services, I find convergent evidence that increased economic inequality in a consumer's region reduces providers' willingness to serve them, ultimately resulting in their diminished access to P2P services. This adverse effect of economic inequality can be attributed to providers perceiving consumers from more unequal regions as less trustworthy. This perception leads them to perceive heightened financial risks associated with serving these consumers. Moreover, this negative impact of economic inequality attenuates when providers perceive greater interpersonal similarity with consumers from unequal regions. In Essay 2, I explore how economic inequality within one's society affects their education decisions through the lens of perceived education premium. Firstly, it encourages people to attend college as it amplifies the perceived education premium of college—the income gap between college graduates and high school graduates. Secondly, it motivates people to choose majors with higher earning potential but lower personal interests, as opposed to those that align more with their genuine interests but pay less. This shift towards prioritizing extrinsic motivations over intrinsic ones is driven by people's perception of a more significant education premium between majors—the income disparity between higher-paying and lower-paying majors. / Doctor of Philosophy / Economic inequality, defined as the unequal distribution of income among various groups in a society, has been on the rise globally in recent decades. Amid the growing economic inequality, researchers have been delving into its profound impacts on individuals across diverse domains, exploring its influences on their mindsets, perspectives on the world, social lives, and overall well-being. It's surprising that there has been relatively little research on how economic inequality affects people's consumption decisions and experiences, given its undeniable influence on them. In this dissertation, I explore the impacts of economic inequality on consumers' access to P2P services and education decision-making. In Essay 1, I investigate how economic inequality in a consumer's region affects their access to peer-to-peer (P2P) services. I examine whether P2P providers are equally willing to serve consumers from regions with varying levels of economic inequality. I reveal a disconcerting reality: providers are less willing to offer P2P services to consumers from more unequal regions, driven by the perception of these consumers as less trustworthy and posing a higher financial risk. These differing attitudes ultimately lead to reduced access to P2P services and region-based discrimination for consumers from regions characterized by higher economic inequality. Fortunately, these adverse outcomes can be mitigated by an increase in perceived interpersonal similarity between providers and consumers. In Essay 2, I investigate how economic inequality in one's society shapes their education decisions. I find that as economic inequality rises, people become more willing to pursue a college education because they perceive a wider income gap between well-educated individuals and those with lower levels of education. Besides college decisions, economic inequality also influences people's choice of major for a similar reason. In a society characterized by greater economic inequality, people gravitate towards majors that promise higher earning potential, even if these fields do not align closely with their personal interests. This preference is driven by their perception of a greater wage difference between higher- and lower-paying majors. These findings provide policy implications for several pressing challenges in higher education.

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