Abstract
This paper explores an information intervention designed and implemented within a school assignment mechanism in Mexico City. Through a randomized experiment, we show that providing a subset of applicants with feedback about their academic perfor-mance can enhance sorting by skill across high school tracks. This reallocation effect results in higher completion rates three years post-assignment. We further integrate the experimental evaluation into an empirical model of school choice and educational out-comes to assess the impact of the intervention for the overall population of applicants. Information provision is shown to increase the ex-ante efficiency of the student-school allocation, while congestion externalities are detrimental for the equity of education outcomes.
Keywords
Information; Subjective expectations; Beliefs updating; Biased beliefs; School choice; Discrete choice models; Control function; Stable matching;
JEL codes
- D83: Search • Learning • Information and Knowledge • Communication • Belief
- I21: Analysis of Education
- I24: Education and Inequality
- J24: Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity
Reference
Matteo Bobba, Veronica Frisancho, and Marco Pariguana, “Perceived Ability and School Choices: Experimental Evidence and Scale-up Effects”, TSE Working Paper, n. 16-660, June 2016, revised July 2024.
See also
Published in
TSE Working Paper, n. 16-660, June 2016, revised July 2024