Nadine Ketel and Hessel Oosterbeek and Sándor Sóvágó and Bas van der Klaauw
We combine data from the Amsterdam secondary-school match with register data and unique survey data to estimate the effects of not being assigned to one's first-ranked school on a wide range of outcomes. For identification we use that assignment is based on the DA-mechanism with ties broken by lottery numbers. Lottery losers are assigned to schools farther from home, with higher shares of peers from non-Dutch and low-income families. Despite the less-preferred environment, we find no adverse effects on academic performance or most non-academic outcomes, including: attitudes towards school, awareness of parents, behavior inside and outside school, school satisfaction, having friends, and students’ personality. Strikingly, losing the lottery leads to significant gains in social civic engagement, measured by respect for diverse opinions, support for redistribution, and appreciation for diversity. These results suggest that assignment to more diverse schools fosters greater social civic engagement without compromising other outcomes.