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Constrained School Choice: An Experimental Study

Author

Listed:
  • Guillaume Haeringer

    (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

  • Caterina Calsamiglia

    (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

  • Flip Klijn

    (Institute for Economic Analysis (CSIC))

Abstract

The literature on school choice assumes that families can submit a preference list over all the schools they want to be assigned to. However, in many real-life instances families are only allowed to submit a list containing a limited number of schools. Subjects' incentives are drastically affected, as more individuals manipulate their preferentes. Including a safety school in the constrained list explains most manipulations. Competitiveness across schools plays an important role. Constraining choices increases segregation and affects the stability and efficiency of the final allocation. Remarkably, the constraint reduces significantly the proportion of subjects playing a dominated strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillaume Haeringer & Caterina Calsamiglia & Flip Klijn, 2009. "Constrained School Choice: An Experimental Study," Working Papers 2009.29, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2009.29
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    School Choice; Matching; Experiment; Gale-Shapley; Top Trading Cycles; Boston Mechanism; Efficiency; Stability; Truncation; Truthtelling; Safety School;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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