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Johanna Raith

Johanna Raith
Current Position

since 4/23

Economist in the Department of Structural Change and Productivity

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

Research Interests
  • labour economics
  • education economics
  • income and wealth inequality

Johanna Raith joined the Department of Structural Change and Productivity as a doctoral student in April 2023. Her research focuses on inequality within labour and educational economics.

Johanna Raith received her bachelor's and master's degree from Goethe University Frankfurt. She spent semesters abroad in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Your contact

Johanna Raith
Johanna Raith
- Department Structural Change and Productivity
Send Message +49 345 7753-761 Personal page

Working Papers

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College Application Choices in a Repeated Deferred Acceptance (DA) Setting: Empirical Evidence from Croatia

Dejan Kovač Christopher Neilson Johanna Raith

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 9, https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iwhdps/319912.html#download 2025

Abstract

<p>How do beliefs on admission probability influence application choices? In this study, we empirically investigate whether and how admission probability is reflected in application choices in a centralized admission system. We exploit a novel setting of a dynamic deferred acceptance mechanism as employed in Croatia with hourly information updates and simultaneous application choices. This setting allows us to explore within-applicant strategic adjustments as a reaction to changing signals on admission probability. We show in an RDD analysis that applicants react to negative signals on admission probability with an increased propensity to adjust their application choices by 11-23%. Additionally, we show how application strategies evolve over time, while applicants learn about their admission probability. The group most-at-risk to remain unmatched improves their application choices by applying to programs with a higher admission probability towards the application deadline. Yet, we also identify a popular and potentially harmful strategy of applying to safer programs before applying to more risky “reach” programs. About a quarter of applicants have the potential to improve their application choices by resorting their application choices.</p>

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