According to the theory of Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI), economically advantaged individuals not only enter each level of education at higher rates than do their less advantaged peers, but also enjoy qualitative advantages at each level that position them more favorably to continue to the next level. Governments may play a role in facilitating or limiting EMI because they allocate appropriations to public universities; the more between-university variability in these funds, the more horizontal differences high-income students may exploit. I ask whether Wisconsin’s unequal pattern of appropriations across its institutions of higher education exacerbates income-based disparities in college persistence. I test two hypotheses: (1) Economically advantaged students sort into the universities with greatest appropriations; (2) Appropriations promote first-to-second-year persistence. Evidence in favor of both hypotheses would support the claim that an unequal pattern of appropriations exacerbates college persistence disparities and, accordingly, suggest that unequal allocation facilitates EMI. Results support hypothesis (1) but not hypothesis (2). The results do not present evidence that the Wisconsin state government facilitated or limited EMI based on its allocation of funds across universities.

根据有效维持的不平等 (EMI) 理论，经济上处于优势的人不仅比处于劣势的同龄人以更高的速度进入每个教育级别，而且在每个级别都享有质量优势，使他们更有利于继续下一个教育等级。政府可能会在促进或限制 EMI 方面发挥作用，因为它们将拨款分配给公立大学；这些资金的大学间差异越大，高收入学生可能利用的横向差异就越大。我问威斯康星州高等教育机构的不平等拨款模式是否加剧了大学坚持的收入差距。我检验了两个假设：（1）经济上有优势的学生进入拨款最多的大学；（2）拨款促进第一年到第二年的坚持。支持这两种假设的证据将支持这样一种说法，即不平等的拨款模式会加剧大学的持续性差距，并因此表明不平等的分配促进了 EMI。结果支持假设 (1) 但不支持假设 (2)。结果并未提供证据表明威斯康星州政府根据其在大学之间的资金分配促进或限制了 EMI。