When Information is Not Enough: Evidence from a Centralised School Choice System

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ajayi, Kehinde F.; Friedman, Willa H.; Lucas, Adrienne M.
• 署名单位: University of Houston System; University of Houston; National Center Atmospheric Research (NCAR) - USA; University of Delaware; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Delaware
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf046
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: field experiment; CONSEQUENCES; education; IMPACT

摘要

We implemented a large-scale randomised controlled trial encompassing 900 junior high schools in Ghana, a country with universal secondary school choice, to study whether providing students and parents with information on school characteristics and selection strategies improved outcomes in a centralised school selection mechanism. Information changed households' preferences and the characteristics of schools to which they applied. Students gained admission to higher value-added schools, yet they were not more likely to matriculate on time or at all. Incomplete school information was not the only friction. Household shocks and inaccurate preference forecasting likely contributed to continued admission deviations.