Sweden’s school choice reform and equality of opportunity

Edmark, Karin ; Frölich, Markus ; Wondratschek, Verena

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URL:	https://ub-madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/36903
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-369031
Document Type:	Working paper
Year of publication:	2014
The title of a journal, publication series:	ZEW Discussion Papers
Volume:	14-041
Place of publication:	Mannheim
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Sonstige Einrichtungen > ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung
MADOC publication series:	Veröffentlichungen des ZEW (Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung) > ZEW Discussion Papers
Subject:	300 Social sciences, sociology, anthropology
Classification:	JEL: I24 , C21,
Keywords (English):	School choice , school competition , treatment evaluation , cognitive and non-cognitive skills
Abstract:	This study analyses whether the Swedish school choice reform, enacted in 1992, had different effects on students from different socio-economic backgrounds. We use detailed geographical data on students’ and schools’ locations to construct measures of the degree of potential choice. This allows us to study the effects of choice opportunities among public schools, whereas previous studies have focused on newly opened private schools. Our results suggest small positive or no effects of choice opportunities, depending on specification and outcome. We find no strong evidence of differences between subgroups; if anything, effects tend to be slightly more positive for disadvantaged groups, such as students from low-income families. Taken together, the results indicate that students from a socio-economically disadvantaged or immigrant background were not harmed by the reform.