Competitive Submarket Formation in Differentiated Education Markets: Evidence from New York City (Poster 5)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

In a school choice system, the structure of the marketplace is governed by families’ preferences for schools, their enrollment decisions, and schools’ responses to these decisions. Researchers have long studied families’ preferences, but there has been less work on how preferences shape competition between specific schools. Using data from NYC high school applications, I identify what schools functionally compete for the same sets of students in application cycles. Applying statistical network models and community detection algorithms, I find strong evidence of both homophily and market hierarchy, with schools similar in curricular theme, admissions methods, and student bodies more likely to compete. Families choices segment schools into discrete sub-markets of discernible characteristics, with school selectivity and student demographics defining sub-market boundaries.

Author

• Dillon G. McGill, Vanderbilt University