Class-Size Caps, Sorting, and the Regression-Discontinuity Design

Miguel Urquiola and Eric Verhoogen

American Economic Review, 2009, vol. 99, issue 1, 179-215

Abstract: This paper examines how schools' choices of class size and households' choices of schools affect regression-discontinuity-based estimates of the effect of class size on student outcomes. We build a model in which schools are subject to a class-size cap and an integer constraint on the number of classrooms, and higher-income households sort into higher-quality schools. The key prediction, borne out in data from Chile's liberalized education market, is that schools at the class-size cap adjust prices (or enrollments) to avoid adding an additional classroom, which generates discontinuities in the relationship between enrollment and household characteristics, violating the assumptions underlying regression-discontinuity research designs. (JEL D12, I21, I28, O15)

JEL-codes: D12 I21 I28 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.1.179
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (111)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.99.1.179 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/mar09/20060758_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/mar09/20060758_app.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Class Size and Sorting in Market Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence (2007)
Working Paper: Class Size and Sorting in Market Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence (2007)
Working Paper: Class Size and Sorting in Market Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence (2007)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:99:y:2009:i:1:p:179-215

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().