Full Citation

Title: College Quality and Attendance Patterns: A Long-Run View

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2021

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.1257/mac.20190154

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We construct a time series of college attendance patterns for the United States and document a reversal: family background was a better predictor of college attendance before World War II, but academic ability was afterward. We construct a model of college choice that explains this reversal. The model's central mechanism is that an exogenous surge of college attendance leads better colleges to be oversubscribed, institute selective admissions, and raise their quality relative to their peers, as in Hoxby (2009). Rising quality at better colleges attracts high-ability students, while falling quality at the remaining colleges dissuades low-ability students, generating the reversal.

Url: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20190154

User Submitted?: Yes

Authors: Hendricks, Lutz; Herrington, Christopher; Schoellman, Todd

Periodical (Full): American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics

Issue: 1

Volume: 13

Pages: 184-215

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Work, Family, and Time

Countries: