Applied Micro seminar : Every Tuesday
Time: 12:15 pm – 13:30 pm
Date: 04 th of October 2022
Room : 3001

Nadine KETEL (Universiteit Amsterdam ) – “The (un)importance of school assignment”

Abstract: We combine data from the Amsterdam secondary-school match with register data and data gathered through in-school surveys of students to estimate the effects of not receiving an offer from one’s most-preferred school on academic outcomes and any other outcome that parents and students may care about. Secondary-school assignment in Amsterdam uses the Deferred Acceptance algorithm with ties broken by lottery numbers. Losing the admission lottery for one’s most-preferred school affects the characteristics, distance and peers of the school from which an offer is received and, due to high compliance, of the school of placement. Lottery losers report that they would rather have attended another school. This effect is, however, small and only present in the first year after the lottery. Despite the different school environment, we find no effect on school progression. Nor do we find negative effects on a range of other (groups of) outcomes including: time on homework, help with homework, attitudes towards school, awareness of parents, behavior inside school, behavior outside school, school satisfaction, civic engagement, having friends, and students’ personality. Estimates are very similar for students assigned to schools ranked second, third or outside top-3. There are also no indications that specific groups of student (gender, etnicity, SES, ability) are harmed by losing the admission lottery.

Joint work : Hessel Oosterbeek, Sandor Sovago and Bas van der Klaauw

Organizers:
Benoît SCHMUTZ (Pôle d’économie du CREST)
Roland RATHELOT (Pôle d’économie du CREST)
Sponsors:
CREST