Working Paper

Causes and Consequences of Student-College Mismatch

Abstract: College admissions are highly meritocratic in the U.S. today. It is not the case in many other countries. What is the tradeoff? On one hand, meritocracy produces more human capital overall if higher ability students learn more in college and if they learn more in higher quality colleges. This leads to a higher overall level of earnings (i.e. greater efficiency, loosely speaking). On the other hand, more meritocracy generates a higher degree of earnings inequality. In this paper, we quantify this efficiency-equality tradeoff. Our results suggest small efficiency losses/gains from student reassignment across colleges, suggesting it as an effective policy for fighting inequality and/or altering intergenerational mobility.

Keywords: college quality; human capital; college admissions; affirmative action;

JEL Classification: J24; J31; I23; I26;

https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2022.026

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Part of Series: Working Papers

Publication Date: 2021-12-10

Number: 2022-026

Related Works

• Working Paper Revision: Causes and Consequences of Student-College Mismatch