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Evaluating Education Programs That Have Lotteried Admission and Selective Attrition

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  • John Engberg
  • Dennis Epple
  • Jason Imbrogno
  • Holger Sieg
  • Ron Zimmer

Abstract

We study the effectiveness of magnet programs in an urban district that ration excess demand by admission lotteries. Differential attrition arises since students who lose the lottery are more likely to pursue options outside the school district than students who win the lottery. When students leave the district, important outcome variables are often not observed. The treatment effects are not point-identified. We exploit known quantiles of the outcome distribution to construct informative bounds on treatment effects. We find that magnet programs improve behavioral outcomes but have no significant effect on achievement.

Suggested Citation

  • John Engberg & Dennis Epple & Jason Imbrogno & Holger Sieg & Ron Zimmer, 2014. "Evaluating Education Programs That Have Lotteried Admission and Selective Attrition," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 27-63.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/671797
    DOI: 10.1086/671797
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaitlin Anderson & Gema Zamarro & Jennifer Steele & Trey Miller, 2021. "Comparing Performance of Methods to Deal With Differential Attrition in Randomized Experimental Evaluations," Evaluation Review, , vol. 45(1-2), pages 70-104, February.
    2. Sa A. Bui & Steven G. Craig & Scott A. Imberman, 2011. "Is Gifted Education a Bright Idea? Assessing the Impact of Gifted and Talented Programs on Achievement," NBER Working Papers 17089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Patrick Kline & Christopher R. Walters, 2016. "Evaluating Public Programs with Close Substitutes: The Case of HeadStart," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1795-1848.
    4. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Nikhil Agarwal & Parag A. Pathak, 2015. "The Welfare Effects of Coordinated Assignment: Evidence from the NYC HS Match," NBER Working Papers 21046, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Cook, Jason, 2024. "Race-blind admissions, school segregation, and student outcomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    6. Andrew Bibler & Stephen B. Billings, 2020. "Win or Lose: Residential Sorting After a School Choice Lottery," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 457-472, July.
    7. Dur, Umut & Hammond, Robert G. & Lenard, Matthew A. & Morrill, Melinda & Morrill, Thayer & Paeplow, Colleen, 2025. "The attraction of magnet schools: Evidence from embedded lotteries in school assignment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. Michael Lechner & Blaise Melly, 2010. "Partial Idendification of Wage Effects of Training Programs," Working Papers 2010-8, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    9. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    10. Cook, Jason B., 2018. "Race-Blind Admissions, School Segregation, and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Race-Blind Magnet School Lotteries," IZA Discussion Papers 11909, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Ron Zimmer, 2015. "Charter Schools: A Survey of Research on Their Characteristics and Effectiveness," NBER Working Papers 21256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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