CEF.UP – ECO Seminar/ Webinar

Tuesday – November 9^th, 2021 1:00 p.m. | Room 305 | Online

“Better Peers but Worse Rank Position: The Opportunity Cost of Joining a Selective Group”

Pilar Beneito – Universitat de València and ERI-CES

Abstract

“The sharp downgrading of the relative position in the distribution of ability experienced by those just qualifying to enter a selective group may run counter to the intended positive effects of joining better peers. I exploit variation in admission cutoffs across different cohorts and types of business majors programs within a same university to study the causal impact that joining a selective group has on the academic performance of marginal students. I first compare students just above and just below the admission cutoff using a regression discontinuity design, and then I analyse the impact of the ability rank on the academic performance of students at the threshold. I find that female students who are just above the cutoff (thus, low-ranked students in a high-ability group) underperform female students who just fail to gain entry to the selective group (thus, high-ranked students in a mixed-ability group). Conversely, I find much smaller or no significant effects among male students. I show that gender differences in the response of students to their ability rank position explain a large part of the differences found at the threshold.”