Unpacking the Socioeconomic Status Gap in Exam-Based School Admissions

Andrew Dustan and Diana Ngo

Working Papers from Economics Department, William & Mary

Abstract: We analyze the large socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in public high school assignments in Mexico City, a centralized choice system with exam-based admissions. Using a rich structural model, decomposition, and simulations, we find that placement score differences explain 83% of the gap in assignment to elite schools, contrasted with preferences (6%) and location (5%). For less-preferred technical schools, preferences explain 64% of the gap, while score differences account for 34%. High-SES students have a substantial advantage on the placement test beyond what is predicted by multiple contemporaneous ability measures, raising concerns about the distributional impacts of exam-based admissions.

Keywords: School choice; inequality; high-stakes exams (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I21 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2026-09-01
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DOI: 10.26300/qb4d-hv24

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