School Choice Through Relocation: Evidence from the Washington, D.C. Area
In this paper I show how the monetary value that parents place on school quality may
be inferred from their choice of residential location. The method identifies the valuation that
parents place on school quality from the differential effect that measures of school quality
have on the residential choices of households with and without children. I implement the
method with data from the U.S. Census for Washington, D.C. using residential location
decisions in 1990. For whites I find that school quality is an important determinant of
residential choices and that households with children in the top income quintile are willing to
pay $3,300 for schools that generate a 100 SAT point advantage. The evidence does not
indicate that the choices of African Americans are influenced by school quality, which
suggests that this group may be constrained in their location choices.