School Finance Equalization Increases Intergenerational Mobility
利用州级改革带来的队列差异和模拟工具变量法，发现学区收入均等化显著提升低收入学生的代际流动性，缩小投入差距是主要机制。
This paper estimates the causal effect of equalizing revenues across school districts on students’ intergenerational mobility. I exploit cohort differences in exposure to equalization generated by state-level reforms. To address the endogeneity of postreform revenues due to household sorting after a reform, I use a simulated-instruments approach that uses newly collected data on states’ funding formulas to simulate revenues without sorting. I find that equalization has a large effect on the mobility of low-income students. Reductions in input gaps between low-income and high-income districts are likely channels behind this effect.