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Benefits to elite schools and the formation of expected returns to education: Evidence from Mexico City

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  • Estrada, Ricardo
  • Gignoux, Jérémie

Abstract

We study the effects of admission into elite public high schools in Mexico City on students' expected earnings, arguing these effects provide an indication of the value-added those schools produce. Using data for the centralized and exam-based allocation of students into schools and an adapted regression discontinuity design strategy, we find that admission substantially increases learning achievement, and also the future earnings and returns students expect from a college education, but no effect on the earnings expected with high school education alone. This suggests that students believe that the benefits from their elite education are complements to a college education.

Suggested Citation

  • Estrada, Ricardo & Gignoux, Jérémie, 2014. "Benefits to elite schools and the formation of expected returns to education: Evidence from Mexico City," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1407, CEPREMAP.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpm:docweb:1407
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Dustan & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2017. "Flourish or Fail?: The Risky Reward of Elite High School Admission in Mexico City," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(3), pages 756-799.
    2. Avitabile,Ciro & Bobba,Matteo & Pariguana,Marco, 2015. "High school track choice and financial constraints : evidence from urban Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7427, The World Bank.
    3. Luflade, Margaux & Zaiem, Meryam, 2024. "Do elite schools improve students performance? Evidence from Tunisia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Fanny Landaud & Son Thierry Ly & Éric Maurin, 2020. "Competitive Schools and the Gender Gap in the Choice of Field of Study," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(1), pages 278-308.
    5. Bobba, Matteo & Frisancho, Veronica & Pariguana, Marco, 2016. "Perceived Ability and School Choices: Experimental Evidence and Scale-up Effects," TSE Working Papers 16-660, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jul 2024.
    6. Margherita Fort & Andrea Ichino & Enrico Rettore & Giulio Zanella, 2022. "Multicutoff RD designs with observations located at each cutoff: problems and solutions," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2022-01, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    7. Wu, Jia & Wei, Xiangdong & Zhang, Hongliang & Zhou, Xiang, 2019. "Elite schools, magnet classes, and academic performances: Regression-discontinuity evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 143-167.
    8. Michaelsen, Maren M. & Salardi, Paola, 2020. "Violence, psychological stress and educational performance during the “war on drugs” in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    9. Maren M. Michaelsen & Paola Salardi, 2018. "Violence, Psychological Stress and Educational Performance during the “War on Drugs†in Mexico," HiCN Working Papers 262, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Hans‐Peter Y. Qvist & Anders Holm & Martin D. Munk, 2021. "Demand and Supply Effects and Returns to College Education: Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Engineers in Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(2), pages 676-704, April.
    11. Estrada, Ricardo, 2022. "The effect of the demand for elite schools on stratification," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    12. Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia, 2023. "Persistence of the Spillover Effects of Violence and Educational Trajectories," IZA Discussion Papers 16374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Cabrera-Hernández, Francisco & Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia, 2023. "Full-time schools and educational trajectories: Evidence from high-stakes exams," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Dustan, Andrew & Ngo, Diana K.L., 2018. "Commuting to educational opportunity? School choice effects of mass transit expansion in Mexico City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 116-133.
    15. Eunsik Chang & María Padilla-Romo, 2019. "The Effects of Local Violent Crime on High-Stakes Tests," Working Papers 2019-03, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    16. De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E. & Estrada,Ricardo & Vargas Mancera,Maria Jose, 2021. "Do Large-Scale Student Assessments Really Capture Cognitive Skills ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9537, The World Bank.
    17. Mu, Ren & Liu, Xinsheng, 2024. "Perceived returns to college education by ethnicity: Evidence from China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    18. Estrada, Ricardo, 2016. "The Effect of the Increasing Demand for Elite Schools on Stratification," Economics Working Papers MWP2016/02, European University Institute.
    19. Ibtihal Ferwana & Suyoung Park & Ting-Yi Wu & Lav R. Varshney, 2023. "Designing Discontinuities," Papers 2305.08559, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2023.
    20. Zhang, Kexin, 2023. "The long-term impact of higher education: Evidence from the Gaokao reinstatement in China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    21. Dustan, Andrew, 2018. "Family networks and school choice," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 372-391.
    22. Eréndira León Bravo, 2022. "Three essays on education, wages, and the labour market in Mexico," Economics PhD Theses 0322, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    23. de Hoyos, Rafael & Estrada, Ricardo & Vargas, María José, 2021. "What do test scores really capture? Evidence from a large-scale student assessment in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    elite high schools; earnings expectations; returns to education; beliefs formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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