TY  - JOUR
AU  - Epple,Dennis
AU  - Romano,Richard
TI  - Neighborhood Schools, Choice, and the Distribution of Educational Benefits
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7850
PY  - 2000
Y2  - August 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7850
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7850.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Dennis N. Epple
Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University
Posner Hall, Room 257B
Pittsburgh, PA  15213
Tel: 412/268-1536
Fax: 412/268-7357
E-Mail: epple@cmu.edu

Richard Romano
University of Florida
E-Mail: richard.romano@cba.ufl.edu
M1  - published as Dennis N. Epple, Richard Romano. "Neighborhood Schools, Choice, and the Distribution of Educational Benefits," in Caroline M. Hoxby, editor, "The Economics of School Choice" University of Chicago Press (2003)

AB  - School districts in the U.S. typically have multiple schools, centralized finance, and student assignment determined by neighborhood of residence.  In many states, centralization is extending beyond the district level as states assume an increasing role in the finance of education.  At the same time, movement toward increased public school choice, particularly in large urban districts, is growing rapidly.  Models that focus on community-level differences in tax and expenditure policy as the driving force in determination of residential choice, school peer groups, and political outcomes are inadequate for analysis of multi-school districts and, hence, for understanding changing education policies.  This paper develops a model of neighborhood formation and tax-expenditure policies in  neighborhood school systems with centralized finance.  Stratification across neighborhoods and their schools is likely to arise in equilibrium.  Consequences of intra-district choice with and without frictions are characterized, including effects on the allocation of students across schools, tax and expenditure levels, student achievement, and household welfare.
ER  -