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Catholic school effectiveness in Australia: A reassessment using selection on observed and unobserved variables

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  • Cardak, Buly A.
  • Vecci, Joe

Abstract

This paper provides new estimates of the effect of Catholic school attendance on high school completion and university commencement and completion for Australian students. Without a set of robust instruments to deal with any potential selection bias, we place bounds on the Catholic school effect using the assumption of equality between selection on observables and unobservables. The effect of Catholic school attendance is found to be smaller than previous results and negative treatment effects cannot be ruled out. A number of explanations for the decline in the Catholic school effect are considered. These include resource differences, growth in disadvantaged student enrolments in Catholic schools and changes in the school and university sectors in Australia.

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  • Cardak, Buly A. & Vecci, Joe, 2013. "Catholic school effectiveness in Australia: A reassessment using selection on observed and unobserved variables," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 34-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:37:y:2013:i:c:p:34-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.08.003
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    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mahuteau, Stephane & Mavromaras, Kostas, 2014. "Student Scores in Public and Private Schools: Evidence from PISA 2009," IZA Discussion Papers 8471, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jha Nikhil & Polidano Cain, 2015. "Long-Run Effects of Catholic Schooling on Wages," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(4), pages 2017-2045, October.
    3. Cardak, Buly A. & Vecci, Joe, 2013. "Catholic school effectiveness in Australia: A reassessment using selection on observed and unobserved variables," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 34-45.
    4. McKendrick, Andrew & Walker, Ian, 2020. "The Role of Faith and Faith Schooling in Educational, Economic, and Faith Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 13192, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Chris Sakellariou, 2016. "The “true” private school effect across countries using PISA-2012 Mathematics," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 1605, Nanyang Technological University, School of Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.
    6. Nghiem, Son & Nguyen, Ha & Connelly, Luke, 2014. "The Efficiency of Australian Schools: Evidence from the NAPLAN Data 2009-2011," MPRA Paper 56231, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Somayeh Parvazian & Ronnie Semo, 2018. "The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth: 20 Years and Beyond," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(3), pages 426-440, September.
    8. Ian W. Li & A. Michael Dockery, 2015. "Does School Socio-economic Status Influence University Outcomes?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(1), pages 75-94.
    9. Brendan Houng & Moshe Justman, 2015. "Out-Of-Sample Predictions Of Access To Higher Education And School Value-Added," Working Papers 1511, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    10. Coughlin, Conor & Castilla, Carolina, 2014. "The effect of private high school education on the college trajectory," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 200-203.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Catholic schools; High school completion; University attendance; Selection bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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