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School Assignment, School Choice and Social Mobility

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  • Simon Burgess
  • Adam Briggs

Abstract

We estimate the chances of poor and non-poor children getting places in good schools, analysing the relationship between poverty, location and school assignment. Our dataset allows us to measure location and distance very precisely. The simple unconditional difference in probabilities of attending a good school is substantial. We run an analysis that controls completely for location, exploiting within-street variation and controlling for other personal characteristics. Children from poor families are significantly less likely to go to good schools. We show that the lower chance of poor children attending a good school is essentially unaffected by the degree of choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2006. "School Assignment, School Choice and Social Mobility," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/157, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    • Handle: RePEc:bri:cmpowp:06/157
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaire Põder & Triin Lauri, 2014. "Will Choice Hurt? Compared to What? School Choice Experiment in Estonia," TUT Economic Research Series 11, Department of Finance and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology.
    2. Lazaretti, Lauana Rossetto & Aniceto França, Marco Túlio, 2020. "School competition and performance indicators: evidence from the creation of federal education institutions in Brazil," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Simon Burgess & Ellen Greaves & Anna Vignoles & Deborah Wilson, 2015. "What Parents Want: School Preferences and School Choice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1262-1289, September.
    4. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Tomas Key, 2010. "Choosing secondary school by moving house: school quality and the formation of neighbourhoods," DoQSS Working Papers 10-21, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    5. María-Jesús Mancebón & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & Mauro Mediavilla & José-María Gómez-Sancho, 2015. "Does educational management model matter? New evidence for Spain by a quasiexperimental approach," Working Papers 2015/40, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    6. Crystal Zhan, 2018. "School Choice Programs And Location Choices Of Private Schools," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1622-1645, July.
    7. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    8. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Leigh McKenna, 2010. "How should we treat under-performing schools? A regression discontinuity analysis of school inspections in England," DoQSS Working Papers 10-20, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    9. 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.
    10. Jessica Ristell & Mohammed Quddus & Marcus Enoch & Chao Wang & Peter Hardy, 2013. "Quantifying the transport-related impacts of parental school choice in England," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 69-90, January.
    11. Thomas Wouters & Zoltan Hermann & Carla Haelermans, 2018. "Demand for secondary school characteristics - Evidence from school choice data in Hungary," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 1803, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    12. Makles Anna & Schneider Kerstin, 2015. "Much Ado about Nothing? The Role of Primary School Catchment Areas For Ethnic School Segregation: Evidence From a Policy Reform," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 203-225, May.
    13. Schwartz, Amy Ellen & Stiefel, Leanna & Wiswall, Matthew, 2013. "Do small schools improve performance in large, urban districts? Causal evidence from New York City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 27-40.
    14. Cordero, José Manuel & Prior, Diego & Simancas Rodríguez, Rosa, 2013. "A comparison of public and private schools in Spain using robust nonparametric frontier methods," MPRA Paper 51375, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Schneider, Kerstin & Schuchart, Claudia & Weishaupt, Horst & Riedel, Andrea, 2012. "The effect of free primary school choice on ethnic groups — Evidence from a policy reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 430-444.
    16. Simon Burgess & Ron Johnston & Tomas Key & Carol Propper & Deboarh Wilson, 2007. "The Formation of School Peer Groups: Pupils’ Transition from Primary to Secondary School in England," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 07/172, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    17. Shanjukta Nath, 2020. "Preference Estimation in Deferred Acceptance with Partial School Rankings," Papers 2010.15960, arXiv.org.
    18. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    19. Schwartz, Amy Ellen & Stiefel, Leanna & Wiswall, Matthew, 2016. "Are all schools created equal? Learning environments in small and large public high schools in New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 272-290.
    20. Jennings, Colin, 2015. "Collective choice and individual action: Education policy and social mobility in England," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 288-297.
    21. Ed Ferrari & Mark A Green, 2013. "Travel to School and Housing Markets: A Case Study of Sheffield, England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2771-2788, November.
    22. Simon Burgess & Helen Slater, 2006. "Using Boundary Changes to Estimate the Impact of School Competition on Test Scores," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/158, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    23. Lorien Rice & Mark Henderson & Margaret Hunter, 2017. "Neighborhood Priority or Desegregation Plans? A Spatial Analysis of Voting on San Francisco’s Student Assignment System," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(6), pages 805-832, December.
    24. Haase, Knut & Müller, Sven, 2013. "Management of school locations allowing for free school choice," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 847-855.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    School assignment; social mobility; school choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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