Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/102137 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 4950
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Being granted a title enhances the status of the awardee while its loss has an opposite effect. The present article examines whether the latter effect dominates the former in the sense that elevation is less status-enhancing than relegation is status-damaging. Thereto, we use the three consecutive rounds of the German Excellence Initiative (a publicly funded program to promote outstanding research at German universities) as a natural experiment. We provide evidence that the loss of the title as a so-called “elite university” had a negative effect on the number of first year students. In contrast, we find no evidence for a positive effect on the number of first year students when a university is granted the title.
Subjects: 
reputation effect
excellence initiative
enrolment numbers
JEL: 
H52
I23
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.