School Finance Equalization Increases Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from A Simulated-Instruments Approach

94 Pages Posted: 3 Oct 2016 Last revised: 9 Dec 2020

See all articles by Barbara Biasi

Barbara Biasi

Yale School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: December 8, 2020

Abstract

This paper estimates the causal effect of equalizing revenues across public school districts on students' intergenerational mobility. I exploit differences in exposure to equalization across seven cohorts of students in 20 US states, generated by 13 state-level school finance reforms passed between 1980 and 2004. Since these reforms create incentives for households to sort across districts and this sorting affects property values, post-reform revenues are endogenous to an extent that varies across states. I address this issue with a simulated-instruments approach, which uses newly collected data on states' funding formulas to simulate revenues in the absence of sorting. I find that equalization has a large effect on mobility of low-income students, with no significant changes for high-income students. Reductions in the gaps in inputs (such as the number of teachers) and in college attendance between low-income and high-income districts are likely channels behind this effect.

Keywords: School Finance, Intergenerational Mobility, Simulated Instruments

JEL Classification: I22, I24, J62

Suggested Citation

Biasi, Barbara, School Finance Equalization Increases Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from A Simulated-Instruments Approach (December 8, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2846490 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2846490

Barbara Biasi (Contact Author)

Yale School of Management ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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