Title: An Empirical Analysis of College Admissions with Endogenous Entrance Exam Scores

Speaker: Alper Arslan，University of Texas at San Antonio

Time: Nov.10, 9：00 – 10：30

About the Speaker:

Dr. Arslan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Carlos Alvarez College of Business at University of Texas at San Antonio. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University. He previously worked in the Department of Economics at Queen’s University, Canada as a postdoctoral researcher. His primary areas of interest are Empirical Industrial Organization and Revenue Management & Pricing. In particular, his research focuses on revenue management and pricing practices in event industries and decision-making in competitive environments such as auctions and two-sided matching markets. He teaches intermediate microeconomics and applied econometrics. 

Abstract：

This paper develops a method for identifying and estimating student preferences in centralized matching mechanisms when students are ranked by exam scores. In these mechanisms, exam scores contain important information for inferring students' heterogeneous preferences because students have incentives to adjust their effort level to obtain a score that maximizes their total gain in the admission process. I show that ignoring the information embedded in exam scores causes biased estimates in Turkey, where there is empirical evidence that students respond to the preparation incentives. I discuss the objectives of these mechanisms and suggest relevant policies to increase students' welfare.