The Effect of Coarse Score Labels on College Application Decisions

Tomoharu Mori and Katsuya Takii
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Tomoharu Mori: College of Comprehensive Psychology, Ritsumeikan University

No 25E002, OSIPP Discussion Paper from Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University

Abstract: This study examines whether people are inattentive to once-in-a-lifetime events. Using data from Japanese entrance examinations, we show that, even in situations where there appears to be little difference in the actual admissions probability, students change their school of choice simply because the coarse label describing admissions probability has changed. To understand the mechanism behind this result, we model students’ application decisions by incorporating inattention. The results suggest that, in once-in-a-lifetime situations, students do observe information more carefully than usual, but they still cannot be completely attentive. We also find that people with better information processing skills and who are accustomed to processing more information daily pay greater attention to information.

Keywords: Inattention; college application; regression discontinuity; score labels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 D91 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41pages
Date: 2025-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osp:wpaper:25e002

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