Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College

57 Pages Posted: 5 May 2021

See all articles by Benjamin Elsner

Benjamin Elsner

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ingo E. Isphording

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ulf Zölitz

University of Zurich; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

This paper studies how a student’s ordinal rank in a peer group affects performance and specialisation choices in university. By exploiting data with repeated random assignment of students to teaching sections, we find that a higher rank increases performance and the probability of choosing related follow-up courses and majors. We document two types of dynamic effects. First, earlier ranks are less important than later ranks. Second, responses to rank changes are asymmetric: improvements in rank raise performance, while decreases in rank have no effect. Rank effects partially operate through students’ expectations about future grades.

JEL Classification: I210, J160, J310

Suggested Citation

Elsner, Benjamin and Isphording, Ingo E. and Zölitz, Ulf, Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College (2021). CESifo Working Paper No. 9040, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3837768 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3837768

Benjamin Elsner

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.benjaminelsner.com

Ingo E. Isphording

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Ulf Zölitz (Contact Author)

University of Zurich ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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