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How does education affect adolescents’ political development?

Author

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  • Persson, Mikael
  • Lindgren, Karl-Oskar
  • Oskarsson, Sven

Abstract

This paper employs a between-grades regression discontinuity design to estimate the causal effect of education on political knowledge, intention to participate and democratic values. Using data on attitudes and knowledge among about 30,000 students from Greece, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden, we employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design in which we exploit the exogenous variation related to school entry age. By comparing students who are born around the New Year cut-off point we estimate the causal effect of the ninth year of schooling. Results show that an additional year of schooling has no detectable effect on political knowledge, democratic values or political participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Persson, Mikael & Lindgren, Karl-Oskar & Oskarsson, Sven, 2016. "How does education affect adolescents’ political development?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 182-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:182-193
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.03.015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Panu Pelkonen, 2012. "Length of compulsory education and voter turnout—evidence from a staged reform," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 51-75, January.
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    8. Peter Fredriksson & Björn Öckert, 2014. "Life‐cycle Effects of Age at School Start," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(579), pages 977-1004, September.
    9. Persson, Mikael, 2015. "Education and Political Participation," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 689-703, July.
    10. Tenn, Steven, 2007. "The Effect of Education on Voter Turnout," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 446-464.
    11. Thomas Siedler, 2010. "Schooling and Citizenship in a Young Democracy: Evidence from Postwar Germany," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(2), pages 315-338, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sander Kunst & Theresa Kuhn & Herman G van de Werfhorst, 2023. "As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined? The role of parental versus own education for openness towards globalisation," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(2), pages 264-285, June.
    2. Lindgren, Karl-Oskar & Oskarsson, Sven & Persson, Mikael, 2019. "Access to education and political candidacy: Lessons from school openings in Sweden," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 138-148.
    3. Lindgren, Karl-Oskar & Oskarsson, Sven & Persson, Mikael, 2017. "Can increased education help reduce the political opportunity gap?," Working Paper Series 2017:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Sander Kunst & Theresa Kuhn & Herman G van de Werfhorst, 2020. "Does education decrease Euroscepticism? A regression discontinuity design using compulsory schooling reforms in four European countries," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(1), pages 24-42, March.
    5. Meyer, Andrew G., 2017. "The impact of education on political ideology: Evidence from European compulsory education reforms," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 9-23.
    6. Thang Dang, 2019. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the political impacts of education in Vietnam," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 207-221, March.

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