College assignment as a large contest

Aaron L. Bodoh-Creed and Brent R. Hickman

Journal of Economic Theory, 2018, vol. 175, issue C, 88-126

Abstract: We develop a model of college assignment as a large contest wherein students with heterogeneous learning-costs compete for seats at vertically differentiated colleges through the acquisition of productive human capital. We use a continuum model to approximate the outcomes of a game with large, but finite, sets of colleges and students. The continuum approximation lends tractability to a rich model for studying investment incentives in rank-order competitions. By incorporating two common families of affirmative action mechanisms into our model, admissions preferences and quotas, we can show that (legal) admissions preference schemes and (illegal) quotas have the same sets of equilibria including identical outcomes and investment strategies.

Keywords: Affirmative action; Contests; Approximate equilibrium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D44 I20 I28 L53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:175:y:2018:i:c:p:88-126

DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2018.01.006

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