How Do U.S. News Rankings Affect the Financial Resources of Public Colleges?
(NBER Working Paper No. 12941) Ginger Zhe Jin and Alex Whalley reach three main conclusions: • USNWR coverage causes colleges to increase educational and general expenditures per student. • These expenditure responses are funded by a 6.5% increase in state appropriations per student, but tuition revenue does not respond. • The state appropriation response to USNWR exposure is larger the larger the pre-college age population, voter turnout and USNWR newsstand sales are in a state. The authors write “our results suggest that, in addition to a consumer response, the publication of quality rankings may influence the provision of quality through a political channel.
