Working Paper: NBER ID: w28512
Authors: Atila Abdulkadiroglu; Umut M. Dur; Aram Grigoryan
Abstract: Proponents of school choice argue that it improves educational outcomes by allowing parents to self-select into schools that are most effective for their children. Contrary to these arguments, empirical evidence suggests that parents may not incorporate school effectiveness or match quality when choosing schools. The findings potentially impugn proponents' effectiveness arguments of choice-based assignment. We develop novel solutions that restore effectiveness by maximizing match quality subject to stability constraints. Maximization algorithms are provided for both small and large school districts. Simulations reveal substantial match quality gains from our solutions compared to the celebrated Deferred Acceptance mechanism with a random tie-breaker. Our methodology can be used to optimize for other policy objectives in school choice or other priority-based matching problems.
Keywords: school choice; match quality; educational outcomes; algorithm; optimization
JEL Codes: D47; I20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Parental choice over public schools (H52) | Educational outcomes (I21) |
| Parental choice over public schools does not incorporate school effectiveness or match quality (I21) | Suboptimal educational outcomes (I24) |
| Proposed algorithms (C69) | Improved match quality (L15) |
| Improved match quality (L15) | Improved educational outcomes (I24) |