College Admission and High School Integration

Fernanda Estevan and Thomas Gall; Patrick Legros; Andrew F. Newman
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Patrick Legros and Thomas Gall

No 2014_26, Working Papers, Department of Economics from University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

Abstract: This paper examines possible effects of college admission policy on general equilibrium outcomes at the high school stage. Specifically, we investigate whether a policy that bases college admission on relative performance at high school could modify in the aggregate the degree of segregation in schools, by inducing some students to relocate to schools that offer weaker competition. In a matching model, such high school arbitrage will occur in equilibrium and typically result in desegregating high schools, if schools are segregated with regards to socio-economic characteristics that are correlated with academic performance and race. This is supported by empirical evidence on the effects of the Texas Top Ten Percent Law, indicating that a policy designed to support diversity at the college level in fact achieved high school desegregation, unintentionally generating incentives for some students to choose schools strategically.

Keywords: matching; affirmative action; education; college admission; high school desegregation; Texas Top Ten Percent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 D45 I23 J78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-11-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-gth and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Working Paper: College Admission and High School Integration (2017)
Working Paper: College Admission and High School Integration (2017)
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