Reputation and School Competition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: MacLeod, W. Bentley; Urquiola, Miguel
• 署名单位: Columbia University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20130332
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 3471-3488
• 关键词: parental valuation; public-schools; achievement; INFORMATION; CHOICE; education; policies; MARKETS; boston

摘要

Stratification is a distinctive feature of competitive education markets that can be explained by a preference for good peers. Learning externalities can lead students to care about the ability of their peers, resulting in across-school sorting by ability. This paper shows that a preference for good peers, and therefore stratification, can also emerge endogenously from reputational concerns that arise when graduates use their college of origin to signal their ability. Reputational concerns can also explain puzzling observed trends including the increase in student investment into admissions exam preparation, and the decline in study time at college.