Race and College Success: Evidence from Missouri

55 Pages Posted: 29 Jun 2013 Last revised: 7 Jun 2023

See all articles by Peter Arcidiacono

Peter Arcidiacono

Duke University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Cory Koedel

University of Missouri - Economics

Date Written: June 2013

Abstract

Conditional on enrollment, African American students are substantially less likely to graduate from 4-year public universities than white students. Using administrative micro data from Missouri, we decompose the graduation gap between African Americans and whites into four factors: (1) racial differences in how students sort to universities, (2) racial differences in how students sort to initial majors, (3) racial differences in school quality prior to entry, and (4) racial differences in other observed pre-entry skills. Pre-entry skills explain 65 and 86 percent of the gap for women and men respectively. A small role is found for differential sorting into college, particularly for women, and this is driven by African Americans being disproportionately represented at urban schools and the schools at the very bottom of the quality distribution.

Suggested Citation

Arcidiacono, Peter and Koedel, Cory, Race and College Success: Evidence from Missouri (June 2013). NBER Working Paper No. w19188, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2287046

Peter Arcidiacono (Contact Author)

Duke University - Department of Economics ( email )

213 Social Sciences Building
Box 90097
Durham, NC 27708-0204
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Cory Koedel

University of Missouri - Economics ( email )

118 Professional Building
Columbia, MO 65211
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
32
Abstract Views
360
PlumX Metrics