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JUE insight: The impact of school spending on civic engagement: Evidence from school finance reforms

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  • Asker, Erdal
  • Brunner, Eric
  • Ross, Steve

Abstract

A primary rationale for public financing of schools is that education fosters civic engagement. However, existing studies examining the relationship between schooling and civic engagement have focused exclusively on how educational attainment affects political activity. We provide evidence on how school spending affects volunteerism and voting. Exploiting variation in U.S. court-ordered and legislative school finance reforms and using survey data from the NCES Secondary Longitudinal Studies Program, we find that exogenous increases in school spending led to increases in the probability that young adults volunteer, the amount of time they spend volunteering, and the probability of being registered to vote.

Suggested Citation

  • Asker, Erdal & Brunner, Eric & Ross, Steve, 2024. "JUE insight: The impact of school spending on civic engagement: Evidence from school finance reforms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:143:y:2024:i:c:s0094119024000585
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2024.103688
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Civic engagement; Education spending; Volunteerism; Voting; School finance reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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