This paper evaluates the role of rising income inequality in explaining observed growth in college tuition. We develop a competitive model of the college market, in which college quality depends on instructional expenditure and the average ability of admitted students. An innovative feature of our model is that it allows for a continuous distribution of college quality. We find that observed increases in US income inequality can explain more than half of the observed rise in average net tuition since 1990 and that rising income inequality has also depressed college attendance. (JEL D31, I22, I23, I24)

中文翻译：

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大学学费和收入不平等

本文评估了收入不平等加剧在解释观察到的大学学费增长方面的作用。我们开发了一个大学市场竞争模型，其中大学质量取决于教学支出和录取学生的平均能力。我们模型的一个创新特点是它允许大学质量的连续分布。我们发现，观察到的美国收入不平等的增加可以解释自 1990 年以来观察到的平均净学费增加的一半以上，而且收入不平等的加剧也抑制了大学入学率。(JEL D31、I22、I23、I24)