Distance to School and Competition in the Chilean Schooling System

This paper analyze the demand for educational services in a context in which households and schools are heterogeneous. Distance from student’s place of residence to schools is a key component of our model. School quality and household characteristics are also important in- gredients. Our empirical analysis uses rich and novel information from a large sample of students in Chile. We combine geo-referenced data with longitudinal information on student’s performance. Our longitudinal data contains information for 95% of the Chilean students initially enrolled in 8th grade in 2004. For each student in our data, we observe her scores in two national tests (taken during eight and tenth grades, respectively), all her grades during high school, and her performance on the Chilean standardized test of college admission. We also observe her place of residence and the locations of the schools in which her enrolled. Our results shed lights on the determinants of schooling choices. Our ultimate objective is to understand the impact of these choices on academic performance and and long-term outcomes