Machado, Cecilia; Szerman, Christiane; (2021) Centralized college admissions and student composition. Economics of Education Review , 85 , Article 102184. 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102184.

Preview

Text Szerman_SISU_Machado_Szerman.pdf - Accepted Version Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Education markets are increasingly switching to centralized admission systems. However, empirical evidence of the effects of these transitions is scarce. We examine the consequences of introducing centralized admissions in the higher education market in Brazil. Using detailed administrative data, we exploit the staggered adoption of a centralized clearinghouse across institutions to investigate the impacts on student composition. Consistent with lower application frictions and higher competition, we find that centralization is associated with a decline in the share of female students and an increase in the average age of students. We also document that institutions under the centralized assignment attract students from other locations and with higher test scores. We present suggestive evidence that centralization increases stratification of institutions by quality, widening the gap between low and high quality institutions.

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Archive Staff Only

View Item