IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/udc/wpaper/wp417.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Dynamic Model of Elementary School Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolás Grau

Abstract

This paper builds and estimates a dynamic model of elementary school choice using detailed Chilean administrative data. In the model, parents care about different features of primary schools: school’s socioeconomic composition, quality (measured as the school’s contribution to standardized test scores), religiosity, location, type of administration, tuition fee and GPA standard. Parents are heterogeneous in two dimensions: whether they have the skills needed to understand public information about quality (standardized tests), and their involvement in their child’s school. The results suggest that: (1) Parents care about school quality, but to a moderate degree. (2) Parents have an important misperception about school quality, which results in a less favorable opinion about the quality of public schools, relative to private schools. (3) If parents were only concerned about quality, they would choose public schools more often. (4) Admission restrictions play a relevant role; otherwise, parents would choose private school more frequently.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolás Grau, 2016. "A Dynamic Model of Elementary School Choice," Working Papers wp417, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/d5871aa062073a45a76591747ec2584e5581b17a.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Schneider & Gregory Elacqua & Jack Buckley, 2006. "School choice in Chile: Is it class or the classroom?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 577-601.
    2. Paredes, Ricardo D. & Drago, José Luis, 2011. "La brecha de calidad en la educación chilena," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    3. 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.
    4. Bast, Joseph L. & Walberg, Herbert J., 2004. "Can parents choose the best schools for their children?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 431-440, August.
    5. Daniel Houser & Michael Keane & Kevin McCabe, 2004. "Behavior in a Dynamic Decision Problem: An Analysis of Experimental Evidence Using a Bayesian Type Classification Algorithm," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 781-822, May.
    6. Flavio Cunha & James Heckman & Salvador Navarro, 2005. "Separating uncertainty from heterogeneity in life cycle earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 191-261, April.
    7. Aguirregabiria, Victor & Mira, Pedro, 2010. "Dynamic discrete choice structural models: A survey," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 38-67, May.
    8. Dante Contreras & Paulina Sepúlveda & Sebastián Bustos, 2010. "When Schools Are the Ones that Choose: The Effects of Screening in Chile," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(s1), pages 1349-1368.
    9. Salvador Navarro, 2011. "Using Observed Choices to Infer Agent's Information: Reconsidering the Importance of Borrowing Constraints, Uncertainty and Preferences in College Attendance," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20118, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    10. Bettinger, Eric, 2011. "Educational Vouchers in International Contexts," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 551-572, Elsevier.
    11. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1994. "The Solution and Estimation of Discrete Choice Dynamic Programming Models by Simulation and Interpolation: Monte Carlo Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(4), pages 648-672, November.
    12. Harold Alderman & Peter F. Orazem & Elizabeth M. Paterno, 2001. "School Quality, School Cost, and the Public/Private School Choices of Low-Income Households in Pakistan," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(2), pages 304-326.
    13. David Bravo & Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Petra E. Todd, 2010. "Effects of school reform on education and labor market performance: Evidence from Chile's universal voucher system," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(1), pages 47-95, July.
    14. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano, 2012. "Economic Modeling and Analysis of Educational Vouchers," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 159-183, July.
    15. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano, 2008. "Educational Vouchers And Cream Skimming," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1395-1435, November.
    16. Justine S. Hastings & Jeffrey M. Weinstein, 2008. "Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1373-1414.
    17. 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.
    18. Thomas J. Kane & Stephanie K. Riegg & Douglas O. Staiger, 2006. "School Quality, Neighborhoods, and Housing Prices," American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 183-212.
    19. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Michael Kremer, 2006. "Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 847-862, June.
    20. Francisco A. Gallego & Andres E. Hernando, 2008. "On the Determinants and Implications of School Choice: Semi-Structural Simulations for Chile," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2008), pages 197-244, August.
    21. Zvi Eckstein & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 1989. "The Specification and Estimation of Dynamic Stochastic Discrete Choice Models: A Survey," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(4), pages 562-598.
    22. Dante Contreras & Paulina Sepúlveda & Sebastián Bustos, 2010. "When Schools Are the Ones that Choose: The Effects of Screening in Chile," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1349-1368, December.
    23. Mizala, Alejandra & Urquiola, Miguel, 2013. "School markets: The impact of information approximating schools' effectiveness," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 313-335.
    24. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera, 2000. "School Performance and Choice: The Chilean Experience," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(2), pages 392-417.
    25. Chumacero, Rómulo A. & Gómez, Daniel & Paredes, Ricardo D., 2011. "I would walk 500 miles (if it paid): Vouchers and school choice in Chile," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1103-1114, October.
    26. Mizala, Alejandra & Romaguera, Pilar & Urquiola, Miguel, 2007. "Socioeconomic status or noise? Tradeoffs in the generation of school quality information," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 61-75, September.
    27. John Conlisk, 1996. "Why Bounded Rationality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 669-700, June.
    28. Ghazala Azmat & José Garcia Montalvo, 2012. "The role of awareness, information gathering and processing in school choice," Economics Working Papers 1324, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    29. Hanushek, Eric A. & Kain, John F. & Rivkin, Steven G., 2004. "Disruption versus Tiebout improvement: the costs and benefits of switching schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1721-1746, August.
    30. McMillan, Robert, 2004. "Competition, incentives, and public school productivity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1871-1892, August.
    31. Hsieh, Chang-Tai & Urquiola, Miguel, 2006. "The effects of generalized school choice on achievement and stratification: Evidence from Chile's voucher program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1477-1503, September.
    32. Christopher A. Neilson, 2021. "Targeted Vouchers, Competition Among Schools, and the Academic Achievement of Poor Students," Working Papers 2021-48, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    33. Epple, Dennis & Romano, Richard E, 1998. "Competition between Private and Public Schools, Vouchers, and Peer-Group Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 33-62, March.
    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. Herskovic, Luis, 2020. "The Effect of Subway Access on School Choice," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    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. Diego Amador & Juan-Andrés Castro & Nicolás Grau, 2019. "Telling schools apart: the role of preferences, constraints, and the ability to differentiate between schools in parents' choices," Documentos CEDE 17343, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. MacLeod, W. Bentley & Urquiola, Miguel, 2012. "Competition and Educational Productivity: Incentives Writ Large," IZA Discussion Papers 7063, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. W. Bentley MacLeod & Miguel Urquiola, 2018. "Is Education Consumption or Investment? Implications for the Effect of School Competition," NBER Working Papers 25117, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Dante Contreras & Jorge Rodríguez & Sergio Urzúa, 2019. "The Return to Private Education: Evidence from School-to-Work Transitions," Working Papers wp479, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    5. MacLeod, W. Bentley & Urquiola, Miguel, 2012. "Anti-Lemons: School Reputation, Relative Diversity, and Educational Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 6805, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Bernardo Lara & Alejandra Mizala & Andrea Repetto, 2009. "The Effectiveness of Private Voucher Education: Evidence from Structural School Switches," Documentos de Trabajo 263, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    7. W. Bentley MacLeod & Miguel Urquiola, 2009. "Anti-Lemons: School Reputation and Educational Quality," NBER Working Papers 15112, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. 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.
    9. Kutscher, Macarena & Nath, Shanjukta & Urzúa, Sergio, 2023. "Centralized admission systems and school segregation: Evidence from a national reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    10. Mauro Mediavilla & Adrián Zancajo, 2015. "Is there real freedom of school choice? An analysis from Chile," Working Papers 2015/36, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    11. Mizala, Alejandra & Urquiola, Miguel, 2013. "School markets: The impact of information approximating schools' effectiveness," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 313-335.
    12. Santos, Humberto & Elacqua, Gregory, 2016. "Socioeconomic school segregation in Chile: parental choice and a theoretical counterfactual analysis," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    13. Gajardo, Felipe & Grau, Nicolás, 2019. "Competition among schools and educational quality: Tension between various objectives of educational policy," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 123-133.
    14. 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.
    15. Chao Fu & Nicolás Grau & Jorge Rivera, 2022. "Wandering astray: Teenagers' choices of schooling and crime," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), pages 387-424, May.
    16. Correa, Juan A. & Parro, Francisco & Sánchez, Rafael, 2021. "The Effect of School Voucher Spending on Initial Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 14552, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Alejandra Mizala & Miguel Urquiola, 2007. "Parental choice and school markets: The impact of information approximating school effectiveness," Documentos de Trabajo 239, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    18. Stephen Gibbons & Stephen Machin & Olmo Silva, 2008. "Choice, Competition, and Pupil Achievement," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(4), pages 912-947, June.
    19. Benjamin Feigenberg, 2021. "Priced Out: Aggregate Income Shocks And School Pricing In The Chilean Voucher Market," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 696-721, April.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1jgbspo1909q48svne93o55rca is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Chumacero, Rómulo A. & Gómez, Daniel & Paredes, Ricardo D., 2011. "I would walk 500 miles (if it paid): Vouchers and school choice in Chile," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1103-1114, October.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:udc:wpaper:wp417. 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: Mohit Karnani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuclcl.html .

    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.