Cognitive, Socioemotional and Behavioral Returns to College Quality

Utteeyo Dasgupta, Subha Mani, Smriti Sharma and Saurabh Singhal

No 10701, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We exploit the variation in the admissions cutoffs across colleges of a leading Indian university in a regression discontinuity framework to estimate the causal effects of enrolling in a selective college on: cognitive attainment, behavioral preferences, and Big Five personality. We find that enrolling in a selective college improves only females' exam scores. Further, marginally admitted females in selective colleges become less overconfident and less risk averse while males in selective colleges experience a decline in extraversion and conscientiousness. Higher attendance rates among females explain the gender differences in returns to better college and peer environment.

Keywords: cognitive attainment; behavior; personality; college quality; peer effects; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C9 I23 J24 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2017-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published as 'Effects of Peers and Rank on Cognition, Preferences, and Personality' in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2022, 104 (3), 587 - 601

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Working Paper: Cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioural returns to college quality (2017)
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