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Correlation Neglect in Student-to-School Matching

Author

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  • Alex Rees-Jones
  • Ran Shorrer
  • Chloe Tergiman

Abstract

We present results from three experiments containing incentivized school choice scenarios. In these scenarios, we vary whether schools' assessments of students are based on a common priority (inducing correlation in admissions decisions) or are based on independent assessments (eliminating correlation in admissions decisions). The quality of students' application strategies declines in the presence of correlated admissions: application strategies become substantially more aggressive and fail to include attractive "safety" options. We provide a battery of tests suggesting that this phenomenon is at least partially driven by correlation neglect, and we discuss implications for the design and deployment of student-to-school matching mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Rees-Jones & Ran Shorrer & Chloe Tergiman, 2024. "Correlation Neglect in Student-to-School Matching," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 1-42, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1-42
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20200407
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    Cited by:

    1. Parag A. Pathak & Alex Rees-Jones & Tayfun Sönmez, 2023. "Reversing Reserves," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(11), pages 6940-6953, November.
    2. Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Kübler, Dorothea, 2021. "Experiments on centralized school choice and college admissions: a survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 434-488.
    3. Florian Mudekereza, 2025. "Correlation Neglect in Games," Papers 2501.13019, arXiv.org.
    4. Klümper, Andreas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2020. "Correlation neglect, incentives, and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    5. Shorrer, Ran I. & Sóvágó, Sándor, 2024. "Dominated choices under deferred acceptance mechanism: The effect of admission selectivity," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 167-182.
    6. Zhou, Jing, 2024. "Does correlation matter in probability matching? A laboratory investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 876-894.
    7. Pauline Vorjohann, 2023. "Reference-dependent choice bracketing," Discussion Papers 2309, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    8. Bnaya Dreyfuss & Ori Heffetz & Matthew Rabin, 2019. "Expectations-Based Loss Aversion May Help Explain Seemingly Dominated Choices in Strategy-Proof Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 26394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Bnaya Dreyfuss & Ofer Glicksohn & Ori Heffetz & Assaf Romm, 2022. "Deferred Acceptance with News Utility," NBER Working Papers 30635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Koutout, Kristine & Dustan, Andrew & Van der Linden, Martin & Wooders, Myrna, 2021. "Mechanism performance under strategy advice and sub-optimal play: A school choice experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Kevin He & Ran Shorrer & Mengjia Xia, 2025. "Human Misperception of Generative-AI Alignment:A Laboratory Experiment," PIER Working Paper Archive 25-019, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. Bolte, Lukas & Fan, Tony Q., 2024. "Motivated mislearning: The case of correlation neglect," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 647-663.
    13. Mu Zhang, 2021. "A Theory of Choice Bracketing under Risk," Papers 2102.07286, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.
    14. Doğan, Battal & Erdil, Aytek, 2025. "Widening access in university admissions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    15. Zhang, Jun, 2021. "Level-k reasoning in school choice," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-17.
    16. Christopher Neilson & Felipe Arteaga & Adam Kapor & Seth Zimmerman, 2021. "Smart Matching Platforms and Heterogeneous Beliefs in Centralized School ChoiceSmart Matching Platforms and Heterogeneous Beliefs in Centralized School Choice," Working Papers 650, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    17. Niederle, Muriel & Vespa, Emanuel, 2023. "Cognitive Limitations: Failures of Contingent Thinking," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt5q14p1np, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    18. Felipe Arteaga & Adam J Kapor & Christopher A Neilson & Seth D Zimmerman, 2022. "Smart Matching Platforms and Heterogeneous Beliefs in Centralized School Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(3), pages 1791-1848.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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