Comparing students by a matching analysis - on early school leaving in Dutch cities

In case of regional discretionary on the implementation of policy measures, central governments often consider differences in outcomes as an indication that one policy was more effective than another policy. If uniform incentives are provided to motivate regional policy makers, these incentives can be discouraging when the underlying populations differ. Empirically, this study compares early school leaving between the four largest Dutch cities. It shows that considering regional differences as performance measures can be dangerous if differences in population characteristics are not properly taken into account. Methodologically, this study contrasts the use of a traditional probit model with a more advanced iterative matching procedure.