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Increasing Access to Selective High Schools through Place-Based Affirmative Action: Unintended Consequences

Author

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  • Lisa Barrow
  • Lauren Sartain
  • Marisa de la Torre

Abstract

We investigate whether elite Chicago public high schools differentially benefit high-achieving students from more and less affluent neighborhoods. Chicago's place-based affirmative action policy allocates seats based on achievement and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). Using regression discontinuity design (RDD), we find that these schools do not raise test scores overall, but students are generally more positive about their high school experiences. For students from low-SES neighborhoods, we estimate negative effects on grades and the probability of attending a selective college. We present suggestive evidence that these findings for students from low-SES neighborhoods are driven by the negative effect of relative achievement ranking.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Barrow & Lauren Sartain & Marisa de la Torre, 2020. "Increasing Access to Selective High Schools through Place-Based Affirmative Action: Unintended Consequences," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 135-163, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:135-63
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20170599
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bottan, Nicholas & Bernhardt, Dan, 2024. "Small Fish in a Big Pool : The Discouraging Effects of Relative Assessment," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1511, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Oosterbeek, Hessel & Ruijs, Nienke & de Wolf, Inge, 2023. "Heterogeneous effects of comprehensive vs. single-track academic schools: Evidence from admission lotteries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Bleemer, Zachary, 2023. "Affirmative action and its race-neutral alternatives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    4. Manon Garrouste & Miren Lafourcade, 2022. "Place-Based Policies: Opportunity for Deprived Schools or Zone-and-Shame Effect?," Post-Print hal-04329793, HAL.
    5. Joshua D. Angrist, 2022. "Empirical Strategies in Economics: Illuminating the Path From Cause to Effect," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2509-2539, November.
    6. Ketel, Nadine & Oosterbeek, Hessel & Sovago, Sandor & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2023. "The (Un)Importance of School Assignment," IZA Discussion Papers 16591, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Bansak, Kirk & Nowacki, Tobias, 2022. "Effect Heterogeneity and Causal Attribution in Regression Discontinuity Designs," SocArXiv vj34m, Center for Open Science.
    8. Angrist, Joshua D. & Pathak, Parag A. & Zarate, Roman A., 2023. "Choice and consequence: Assessing mismatch at Chicago exam schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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