Understanding Compulsory Schooling Legislation: A Formal Model and Implications for Empirical Analysis

We construct a simple model of compulsory schooling in which legislation and compliance are endogenously determined by individuals disciplined by social norms, optimizing their voting decisions and the school attendance of their children. The model provides a formal framework for interpreting empirical results on the effect of compulsory-schooling legislation (CSL) on enrollment. This sheds light on the use of CSL as an instrumental variable to identify the benefits of schooling, suggesting how the estimates it produces may be biased.compliance norms, compulsory schooling, education

Public Schooling, Social Capital and Growth

We consider the contribution of public education to growth through its role in building social capital—instilling common values and norms that lower economic transaction costs and reduce social tensions between different population groups. This is modeled in the context of a political economy framework that focuses on the role of public education in reducing redistributive rent-seeking. Our analysis shows that the social compromises needed to mobilize popular support for public education are more difficult to achieve the deeper are the cultural divisions in society; and that a uniform public school system, when adopted, promotes stronger growth than would a private system.

Education, inequality, and growth: a public choice perspective

SIGLEAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 624 (45) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman