The Downside Risk of Elevation

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4950

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; National Government Expenditures and Education ; Higher Education; Research Institutions
• Subject: reputation effect ; excellence initiative ; enrolment numbers

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bruckmeier, Kerstin ; Fischer, Georg-Benedikt ; Wigger, Berthold U.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/102137
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET