Parental education and the responses to higher SAT scores
Georg Graetz, Oskar Nordstrom Skans and Bjorn Ockert
Using discontinuities within the Swedish SAT system, we study the causal impact of additional admission opportunities on participation in higher education among high-ability students. Students with low-educated parents who marginally pass an SAT score threshold, are more likely to enroll and graduate from programs they could have attended even with a lower score. This suggests that they face behavioral barriers even in a setting where colleges are tuition-free, student grants universal, and application systems simple. In contrast, students with high-educated parents respond to enhanced opportunities in ways that appear rational and informed; particularly by switching to higher-quality, more competitive programs.
6 June 2023
Journal of Human Resources 59(1) 2023
https://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/06/01/jhr.0420-10824R2
This Journal article is published under the centre's Labour programme.