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Signals, Information, and the Value of College Names

Alex Eble,
Feng Hu

Colleges can send signals about their quality by adopting new, more alluring names. We study how this affects college choice and labor market performance of college graduates. Administrative data show name-changing colleges enroll higher-aptitude students, with larger effects for alluring-but-misleading name changes and among students with less information. A large resume audit study suggests a small premium for new college names in most jobs, and a significant penalty in lower-status jobs. We characterize student and employer beliefs using web-scraped text, surveys, and other data. Our study shows signals designed to change beliefs can have real, lasting impacts on market outcomes.

Keywords
Education; information; college choice; labor market returns; behavioral economics
Education level
Post-secondary education
Topics
Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Tags
Higher education,
Human capital
Download 09/2022
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/btrm-jt20
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Eble, Alex, and Feng Hu. (). Signals, Information, and the Value of College Names. (EdWorkingPaper: -329). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/btrm-jt20

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