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Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Long-run Effects of Repeated School Admission Reforms

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  • Yusuke Narita

    (Yale University)

  • Chiaki Moriguchi
  • Mari Tanaka

Abstract

What happens if selective colleges change their admission policies? We study this question by analyzing the worldÕs first implementation of nationally centralized meritocratic admissions in the early twentieth century. We find a persistent meritocracy-equity tradeoff. Compared to the decentralized system, the centralized system admitted more high-achievers and produced more occupational elites (such as top income earners) decades later in the labor market. This gain came at a distributional cost, however. Meritocratic centralization also increased the number of urban-born elites relative to rural-born ones, undermining equal access to higher education and career advancement.

Suggested Citation

  • Yusuke Narita & Chiaki Moriguchi & Mari Tanaka, 2024. "Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Long-run Effects of Repeated School Admission Reforms," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2390, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2390
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    3. Gandil, Mikkel Høst, 2021. "Substitution Effects in College Admissions," Memorandum 3/2021, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    4. Kumanomido, Hiroshi & Takayasu, Yutaro, 2024. "Elite Persistence in Family: The Role of Adoption in Prewar Japan," OSF Preprints rmdyp, Center for Open Science.

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