More from the Author

• Article | Journal of Economics & Management Strategy | Spring 2013

  Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

  Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith

  How do rankings affect demand? This paper investigates the impact of college rankings, and the visibility of those rankings, on students' application decisions. Using natural experiments from U.S. News and World Report College Rankings, we present two main findings. First, we identify a causal impact of rankings on application decisions. When explicit rankings of colleges are published in U.S. News, a one-rank improvement leads to a 1-percentage-point increase in the number of applications to that college. Second, we show that the response to the information represented in rankings depends on the way in which that information is presented. Rankings have no effect on application decisions when colleges are listed alphabetically, even when readers are provided data on college quality and the methodology used to calculate rankings. This finding provides evidence that the salience of information is a central determinant of a firm's demand function, even for purchases as large as college attendance.

  Keywords: Rank and Position; Demand and Consumers; Quality; Decisions; Newspapers; United States;

  Citation:

  Luca, Michael, and Jonathan Smith. "Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 22, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 58–77.

  CiteView DetailsRead Now

  Related

• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2011

  Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

  Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith

  How do rankings affect demand? This paper investigates the impact of college rankings, and the visibility of those rankings, on students' application decisions. Using natural experiments from U.S. News and World Report College Rankings, we present two main findings. First, we identify a causal impact of rankings on application decisions. When explicit rankings of colleges are published in U.S. News, a one-rank improvement leads to a 1-percentage-point increase in the number of applications to that college. Second, we show that the response to the information represented in rankings depends on the way in which that information is presented. Rankings have no effect on application decisions when colleges are listed alphabetically, even when readers are provided data on college quality and the methodology used to calculate rankings. This finding provides evidence that the salience of information is a central determinant of a firm's demand function, even for purchases as large as college attendance.

  Keywords: Education; Quality; Information Publishing; Rank and Position; Demand and Consumers;

  Citation:

  Luca, Michael, and Jonathan Smith. "Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12–014, September 2011.

  CiteView DetailsRead Now

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2010 (Revised from original 2003 version)

  FrontPoint Partners

  Jay O. Light

  A hedge fund platform, a new and unique kind of asset management firm, contemplates various client markets for its services.

  Keywords: Asset Management; Investment; Demand and Consumers; Market Platforms; Service Delivery; Financial Services Industry;

  Citation:

  Light, Jay O. "FrontPoint Partners." Harvard Business School Case 204-020, June 2010. (Revised from original July 2003 version.)

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related