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Revisiting the causal effect of education on political participation and interest

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  • Bömmel, Nadja
  • Heineck, Guido

Abstract

A substantial number of studies suggests a strong relationship between education and aspects of political participation and interest. Only a small body of literature, however, addresses whether these patterns represent causal effects. We add to this research and re-examine the question in the German context. For identification, we exploit an exogenous increase in lower secondary compulsory schooling between 1949 and 1969 in former West Germany, and use data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to identify individuals' educational biographies more precisely than prior research. Our results reinforce findings from Siedler (2010): multiple regression analyses first indicate a positive, statistically significant correlation between schooling and our measures of political activities. IV estimates, however, are all trivial, for both compliers and the full sample, indicating that the reform did not stimulate longterm changes in political participation and interest.

Suggested Citation

  • Bömmel, Nadja & Heineck, Guido, 2020. "Revisiting the causal effect of education on political participation and interest," BERG Working Paper Series 167, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bamber:167
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    1. Chevalier, Arnaud & Doyle, Orla, 2012. "Schooling and Voter Turnout: Is there an American Exception?," IZA Discussion Papers 6539, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    7. Jörn-Steffen Pischke & Till von Wachter, 2008. "Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 592-598, August.
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    11. Persson, Mikael, 2015. "Education and Political Participation," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 689-703, July.
    12. Raphael Brade & Marc Piopiunik & Raphael Brade, 2016. "Education and Political Participation," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(01), pages 70-73, May.
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    Cited by:

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    4. Daniel Aaronson & Mark Borgschulte & Sunny Liu & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2024. "Schooling and Political Activism in the Early Civil Rights Era," Working Paper Series WP 2024-06, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    5. Mundt, Philipp & Cantner, Uwe & Inoue, Hiroyasu & Savin, Ivan & Vannuccini, Simone, 2021. "Market selection in global value chains," BERG Working Paper Series 170, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    6. Schulz, Jan & Mayerhoffer, Daniel M., 2021. "A network approach to consumption," BERG Working Paper Series 173, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    7. Schmitt, Sefanie Y. & Bruckner, Dominik, 2022. "Unaware consumers and disclosure of deficiencies," BERG Working Paper Series 178, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    school reform; political participation; IV estimation; returns to education; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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