Correlation Neglect in Student-to-School Matching

Alex Rees-Jones, Ran Shorrer and Chloe Tergiman

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-42

Abstract: We present results from three experiments containing incentivized school choice scenarios. In these scenarios, we vary whether schools' assessments of students are based on a common priority (inducing correlation in admissions decisions) or are based on independent assessments (eliminating correlation in admissions decisions). The quality of students' application strategies declines in the presence of correlated admissions: application strategies become substantially more aggressive and fail to include attractive "safety" options. We provide a battery of tests suggesting that this phenomenon is at least partially driven by correlation neglect, and we discuss implications for the design and deployment of student-to-school matching mechanisms.

JEL-codes: C78 C91 D82 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Correlation Neglect in Student-to-School Matching (2020)
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DOI: 10.1257/mic.20200407

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