Is an internship worth more than majoring in business?

Yes, it seems that may be so.  There is a new paper (pdf) by John M. Nunley, Adam Pugh, Nicholas Romero, and R. Alan Seals, the abstract is this:

We use experimental data from a r�esum�e-audit study to estimate the impact of particular college majors and internship experience on employment prospects. Our experimental design relies on the randomization of r�esum�e characteristics to identify the causal e�ffects of these attributes on job opportunities. Despite applying exclusively to business-related job openings, we �nd no evidence that business degrees improve employment prospects. Furthermore, we �find no evidence linking particular degrees to interview-request rates. By contrast, internship experience increases the interview-request rate by about 14 percent. In addition, the “returns” to internship experience are larger for non-business majors than for business majors.

Their underemployment paper (pdf) is also interesting:

We conduct a r�esum�e audit to estimate the impact of unemployment and underemployment on the employment prospects facing recent college graduates. We �find no evidence that employers use current or past unemployment spells, regardless of their length, to inform hiring decisions. By contrast, college graduates who became underemployed after graduation receive about 15-30 percent fewer interview requests than job seekers who became “adequately” employed after graduation. Internship experience obtained while completing one’s degree reduces the negative e�ffects of underemployment substantially.

No wonder the market-clearing rate for internship is so…low.