On the Determinants of School Socioeconomic Segregation: Evidence From a Policy Change in Chile

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: International and Comparative Studies in School Choice

Abstract

Literature on the determinants of school socioeconomic segregation has identified, among others, residential income segregation, social closure dynamics, self-selection, and specific market features of education systems as partially explaining it. Regarding the latter, and particularly in education contexts with extended school choice systems, two features seem to be especially relevant: non-random admission processes implemented by schools, and tuition charged by schools to the families. However, disentangling the effect of selective admissions and tuition from non-education mechanisms, such as residential segregation, is challenging. In this paper, I exploit a recent policy change in Chile to evaluate the causal effect of removing these two barriers on school socioeconomic segregation. Using preliminary available data, results are so far mixed.

Author

• Francisco Lagos Marin, Harvard University