Perceived Ability and School Choices: Experimental Evidence and Scale-up Effects

Matteo Bobba, Veronica Frisancho and Marco Pariguana ()
Additional contact information
Marco Pariguana: University of Edinburgh

No 16168, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper studies an information intervention designed and implemented in the context of a school assignment mechanism in Mexico City. We find that providing students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with feedback about their academic performance contributes to placing applicants in schools that better fit their skills, allowing them to graduate on time from high school at a higher rate. We also quantify the effect of a counterfactual and yet feasible implementation of the information intervention at a much larger scale. Simulation results demonstrate substantial heterogeneity in the demandside responses, which trigger sorting and displacement patterns within the assignment mechanism. The equilibrium effects of the intervention may possibly hinder the subsequent academic trajectories of high-achieving and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Keywords: subjective expectations; information provision; school choice; upper-secondary education; scaling up experiments; spillover and equilibrium effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I21 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2023-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-exp, nep-mfd and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Perceived Ability and School Choices: Experimental Evidence and Scale-up Effects (2024)
Working Paper: Perceived Ability and School Choices: Experimental Evidence and Scale-up Effects (2024)
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