<p>As I’ve indicated, that study made a concerted effort to examine regional differences in college choice. Indeed, this appears to be one of its strengths.</p>
<p>Revealed preference theory was developed by a respected economist (Paul Samuelson). This particular application was co-authored by scholars from the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard economics department, and Penn/Wharton. Yes, those are all East Coast institutions. Is that your evidence of EC bias? Its top 25 is pretty much the same set as the USNWR top 20 universities + USNWR top 5 LACs. Two different rankings, using completely different methods, came up with nearly identical sets of top schools. This one ranks Brown 8 positions higher, Berkeley exactly 1 place lower. This reflects the biases of the sampled students who make these choices.</p>