Revealed preferences for college rankings under central mechanism: evidence from Turkey

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1505274 (Table of Contents)

This paper explores the economics of match formation in the context of university entrance exam using a dataset obtained from Turkish university entrance system and a survey of senior high school students from the representative sample of Turkey. I provide a description of the student and department characteristics in the CSSP (Center for Students Selection and Placement) mechanism and utilize detailed information regarding university selection behavior to infer students' revealed preferences. Data allows me to estimate a very rich preference specification that takes into account a large number of educational background attributes, detailed demographic and socioeconomic information, along with exam performances. I develop consideration sets for students to eliminate strategic behavior from our estimation and compare them with some benchmark choice sets. Finally, placement outcomes and their effects on labor market are investigated by using estimated preferences.