Working Paper: NBER ID: w26568
Authors: Nikhil Agarwal; Paulo J. Somaini
Abstract: Preferences for schools are important determinants of equitable access to high-quality education, effects of expanded choice on school improvement and school choice mechanism design. Standard methods for estimating consumer preferences are not applicable in education markets because students do not always get their first choice school. This review describes recently developed methods for using rich data from a school choice mechanism to estimate student preferences. Our objectives are to present a unifying framework for these methods and to help applied researchers decide which techniques to use. After laying out methodological issues, we provide an overview of empirical results obtained using these models and discuss some open questions.
Keywords: school choice; revealed preference; educational equity; student preferences
JEL Codes: D47; I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| student preferences for schools (I23) | student choices (D79) |
| student choices (D79) | observed assignments (C90) |
| observed assignments (C90) | distribution of utilities (L97) |
| student preferences for schools (I23) | distribution of utilities (L97) |
| truthful reporting of preferences (D91) | effective estimation of student preferences (C13) |
| strategic reporting of preferences (D79) | complicates identification process (Y50) |
| combining empirical models with quasi-experimental variation (C31) | enhances understanding of school choice dynamics (I21) |
| accurately estimating student preferences (C92) | effectiveness of school choice mechanisms (I21) |