IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/transp/v45y2018i5d10.1007_s11116-017-9773-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

School choice: understanding the trade-off between travel distance and school quality

Author

Listed:
  • Sylvia Y. He

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Genevieve Giuliano

    (University of Southern California)

Abstract

Children are traveling longer distances to school, and the share traveling by car is increasing. This paper examines the effects of school attributes on school choice, which in turn gives rise to travel distance and mode choice. It is well known that school quality is capitalized into residential land values. Households willing and able to pay price premiums may choose to live closer to good-quality schools. In contrast, households with less ability to pay are likely to live in places with schools of lower quality. The California public school system has an open enrollment policy, which allows students to transfer out of their neighbourhood school when places are available. When this option is exercised, students may travel longer distances to school compared with students who attend their neighbourhood schools. We used travel diary data from the 2001 Post Census Regional Household Travel Survey to model school destination choices for K-12 students in the Los Angeles region, California. Parents may choose to send their children to neighbourhood schools, other schools within their home district, or out-of-district schools. We find that location, school quality, and other school features influence the probability of a school being chosen, and the extent to which these factors influence choice varies depending on the characteristics of the residential district and the attributes of the household.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvia Y. He & Genevieve Giuliano, 2018. "School choice: understanding the trade-off between travel distance and school quality," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1475-1498, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:45:y:2018:i:5:d:10.1007_s11116-017-9773-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11116-017-9773-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11116-017-9773-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11116-017-9773-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory R. Weiher & Kent L. Tedin, 2002. "Does choice lead to racially distinctive schools? Charter schools and household preferences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 79-92.
    2. Sandra E. Black, 1999. "Do Better Schools Matter? Parental Valuation of Elementary Education," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 577-599.
    3. David Brasington & Donald R. Haurin, 2006. "Educational Outcomes and House Values: A Test of the value added Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 245-268, May.
    4. Nechyba, Thomas J. & Strauss, Robert P., 1998. "Community choice and local public services: A discrete choice approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 51-73, January.
    5. Gibbons, Stephen & Machin, Stephen & Silva, Olmo, 2013. "Valuing school quality using boundary discontinuity," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45246, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Sylvia Y He, 2017. "A hierarchical estimation of school quality capitalisation in house prices in Orange County, California," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(14), pages 3337-3359, November.
    7. Downes, Thomas A. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2002. "The impact of school characteristics on house prices: Chicago 1987-1991," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-25, July.
    8. Weimer, David L. & Wolkoff, Michael J., 2001. "School Performance and Housing Values: Using Non-Contiguous District and Incorporation Boundaries to Identify School Effects," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 54(n. 2), pages 231-54, June.
    9. Gibbons, Stephen & Machin, Stephen & Silva, Olmo, 2013. "Valuing school quality using boundary discontinuities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 15-28.
    10. Swait, Joffre, 2001. "Choice set generation within the generalized extreme value family of discrete choice models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 643-666, August.
    11. David Brasington, 1999. "Which Measures of School Quality Does the Housing Market Value?," Journal of Real Estate Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 395-413, January.
    12. Jen-Jia Lin & Hsiao-Te Chang, 2010. "Built Environment Effects on Children’s School Travel in Taipai: Independence and Travel Mode," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(4), pages 867-889, April.
    13. Barrow, Lisa, 2002. "School choice through relocation: evidence from the Washington, D.C. area," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 155-189, November.
    14. Sylvia Y. He & Genevieve Giuliano, 2017. "Factors affecting children’s journeys to school: a joint escort-mode choice model," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 199-224, January.
    15. Jesse M. Rothstein, 2006. "Good Principals or Good Peers? Parental Valuation of School Characteristics, Tiebout Equilibrium, and the Incentive Effects of Competition among Jurisdictions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1333-1350, September.
    16. Thomas J. Kane & Stephanie K. Riegg & Douglas O. Staiger, 2006. "School Quality, Neighborhoods, and Housing Prices," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 8(2), pages 183-212.
    17. Weimer, David L. & Wolkoff, Michael J., 2001. "School Performance and Housing Values: Using Non-Contiguous District and Incorporation Boundaries to Identify School Effects," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(2), pages 231-254, June.
    18. Staunton, C.E. & Hubsmith, D. & Kallins, W., 2003. "Promoting Safe Walking and Biking to School: The Marin County Success Story," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1431-1434.
    19. Simon Burgess & Ellen Greaves & Anna Vignoles & Deborah Wilson, 2009. "Parental choice of primary school in England: what ‘type’ of school do parents choose?," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 09/224, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    20. Yizhao Yang & Steve Abbott & Marc Schlossberg, 2012. "The Influence of School Choice Policy on Active School Commuting: A Case Study of a Middle-Sized School District in Oregon," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(8), pages 1856-1874, August.
    21. Elizabeth J Wilson & Julian Marshall & Ryan Wilson & Kevin J Krizek, 2010. "By Foot, Bus or Car: Children's School Travel and School Choice Policy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(9), pages 2168-2185, September.
    22. Scott, Darren M. & He, Sylvia Y., 2012. "Modeling constrained destination choice for shopping: a GIS-based, time-geographic approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 60-71.
    23. H J P Timmermans & R van der Heijden & H Westerveld, 1984. "Decisionmaking between Multiattribute Choice Alternatives: A Model of Spatial Shopping-Behaviour Using Conjoint Measurements," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 16(3), pages 377-387, March.
    24. Nguyen-Hoang, Phuong & Yinger, John, 2011. "The capitalization of school quality into house values: A review," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 30-48, March.
    25. Pasquale A. Pellegrini & A. Stewart Fotheringham & Ge Lin, 1997. "An Empirical Evaluation Of Parameter Sensitivity To Choice Set Definition In Shopping Destination Choice Models," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 257-284, April.
    26. Lankford R. H. & Lee E. S. & Wyckoff J. H., 1995. "An Analysis of Elementary and Secondary School Choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 236-251, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Sylvia Y., 2020. "Regional impact of rail network accessibility on residential property price: Modelling spatial heterogeneous capitalisation effects in Hong Kong," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 244-263.
    2. Florin-Bogdan Petre & Camelia Teodorescu & Alexandra Cioclu, 2024. "School Dropout in Satellite Towns around Bucharest, Romania," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Zhan, Zilin & Guo, Yuanyuan & Noland, Robert B. & He, Sylvia Y. & Wang, Yacan, 2023. "Analysis of links between dockless bikeshare and metro trips in Beijing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. Scheiner, Joachim & Huber, Oliver & Lohmüller, Stefan, 2019. "Children's independent travel to and from primary school: Evidence from a suburban town in Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 116-131.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sylvia Y He, 2017. "A hierarchical estimation of school quality capitalisation in house prices in Orange County, California," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(14), pages 3337-3359, November.
    2. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Minrong Zheng, 2021. "A Meta‐Analysis of School Quality Capitalization in U.S. House Prices," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1120-1171, December.
    3. Imberman, Scott A. & Lovenheim, Michael F., 2016. "Does the market value value-added? Evidence from housing prices after a public release of school and teacher value-added," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 104-121.
    4. Christian A. L. Hilber, 2017. "The Economic Implications of House Price Capitalization: A Synthesis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 301-339, April.
    5. Xiao, Yue & Wen, Haizhen & Hui, Eddie C.M. & Zhou, Ganghua, 2022. "Dynamic capitalization effects of educational facilities during different market stages: An empirical study in Hangzhou, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Margaret Brehm & Scott A. Imberman & Michael Naretta, 2017. "Capitalization of Charter Schools into Residential Property Values," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, Winter.
    7. Xiao Tian & Jin Liu & Yong Liu, 2022. "How Does the Quality of Junior High Schools Affect Housing Prices? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Admission Reform in Chengdu, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Nguyen-Hoang, Phuong & Yinger, John, 2011. "The capitalization of school quality into house values: A review," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 30-48, March.
    9. Kang Mo Koo & Jerry Liang, 2021. "The Effect of Bilingual Education on Housing Price-a Case Study of Bilingual School Conversion," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 629-664, May.
    10. Agarwal, Sumit & Rengarajan, Satyanarain & Sing, Tien Foo & Yang, Yang, 2016. "School allocation rules and housing prices: A quasi-experiment with school relocation events in Singapore," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 42-56.
    11. Lovenheim, Michael F. & Walsh, Patrick, 2018. "Does choice increase information? Evidence from online school search behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 91-103.
    12. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2015. "The effect of multi-track year-round academic calendars on property values: Evidence from district imposed school calendar conversions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 157-171.
    13. Yi Huang & Sandy Dall’erba, 2021. "Does Proximity to School Still Matter Once Access to Your Preferred School Zone Has Already Been Secured?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 548-577, May.
    14. Fack, Gabrielle & Grenet, Julien, 2010. "When do better schools raise housing prices? Evidence from Paris public and private schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 59-77, February.
    15. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Minrong Zheng, 2022. "Desegregation Litigation and School Quality Capitalization," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 210-227, February.
    16. Constant I. Tra & Anna Lukemeyer & Helen Neill, 2013. "Evaluating The Welfare Effects Of School Quality Improvements: A Residential Sorting Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 607-630, October.
    17. Stadelmann, David, 2010. "Which factors capitalize into house prices? A Bayesian averaging approach," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 180-204, September.
    18. Oskari Harjunen & Mika Kortelainen & Tuukka Saarimaa, 2018. "Best Education Money Can Buy? Capitalization of School Quality in Finland," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 64(2), pages 150-175.
    19. Melser, Daniel & Moallemi, Morteza & Kim, Jun Sung, 2021. "Preferences for single-sex schools: Evidence from the housing market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 710-726.
    20. John Yinger, 2009. "Hedonic Markets and Explicit Demands: Bid-Function Envelopes for Public Services, Neighborhood Amenities, and Commuting Costs," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 114, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:45:y:2018:i:5:d:10.1007_s11116-017-9773-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.