Information and Inflation: An Analysis of Grading Behavior

Lehr Brandon ()
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Lehr Brandon: Department of Economics, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2016, vol. 16, issue 2, 755-783

Abstract: I study the impact on grades assigned at Occidental College, a selective private liberal arts college, following the introduction of a policy that provides information about average grades across campus to instructors each semester. Using transcript level data from 2009 to 2014, I find that after the information provision, previously below average grading courses increased grades by 0.08 grade points more than the previously above average grading courses. This finding of grade compression holds across all course levels and divisions, expect for in the sciences. With respect to students, the relative increase in grades in the previously low grading courses disproportionately benefited Black and Hispanic students relative to White and Asian students. In addition, the grade distribution shifted with previously below average grading courses increasing the share of A’s and decreasing the share of B’s and C’s following the grade information provision.

Keywords: grade compression; grade inflation; information provision; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D83 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0138

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