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%T Flipping a coin: evidence from university applications %A Dwenger, Nadja %A Kübler, Dorothea %A Weizsäcker, Georg %J Journal of Public Economics %N 167 %P 240-250 %D 2018 %K individual decision making; matching markets; preference for randomization; university admissions %@ 1879-2316 %~ WZB %X We empirically investigate the possibility that a decision maker prefers to avoid making a decision and instead delegates it to an external device, e.g., a coin flip. A large data set from the centralized clearinghouse for university admissions in Germany shows a choice pattern of applicants that is consistent with coin flipping and that entails substantial consequences for the matching outcome. In a series of experiments capturing the relevant features of university choice, participants often choose lotteries between allocations rather than certain allocations. This contradicts most theories of choice such as expected utility. A survey among university applicants links their choices to the experiments and confirms that the choice of random allocations is intentional. %C NLD %G en %9 Zeitschriftenartikel %W GESIS - http://www.gesis.org %~ SSOAR - http://www.ssoar.info