Housing market and school choice response to school quality information shocks✰

Abstract

This paper investigates market response to a nationwide school quality information disclosure regime. Exploiting quasi-exogenous timing of the release of information through the school year, I uncover a number of novel empirical findings. First, investigating the house price margin, the results reveal a strikingly convex hedonic price function: large effects to school quality ratings for homes located near schools serving advantaged students but little impact in poorer neighborhoods. These heterogeneous effects can help reconcile relatively modest overall mean school quality capitalization effects with, for example, the large fees wealthier families typically pay for private schools. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the impact of credible and low frequency school quality information shocks persists through the medium term. Finally, exploring the impact of the same information intervention on the school choice margin demonstrates that uprated schools serving advantaged students experience dramatic increases in demand from local families, however response for schools serving less advantaged families is more muted.