Biased Aspirations and Social Inequality at School

Evidence from French Teenagers

Bibliographic Data

ID9720338
AuthorsNina Guyon (0000-0003-3163-4906, National University of Singapore, Singapore), Elise Huillery (0000-0002-9931-4610, Université Paris-Dauphine - PSL Research University, France)
Year2021
Volume131
Issue634
Pages745-796
Publication date2021-03-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ej/ueaa077
OpenAlexW3037209646
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited39

Socially disadvantaged students are less likely to aspire to the top educational pathways than their advantaged classmates who have the same test scores. We identify two behavioural biases that explain most of this gap: socially disadvantaged students are less aware of the top educational pathways and underestimate their academic ability relative to their advantaged peers. We also find that lower educational aspirations at a point in time are associated with poorer school outcomes later on, after controlling for many important factors. Debiasing aspirations through information campaigns and self-esteem building programmes could thus help reduce social inequality in educational attainment

Debiasing · Demographic economics · Developmental psychology · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Educational inequality · Inequality · Point (geometry · Test (biology · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology

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