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Religion, religiosity and private school choice: Implications for estimating the effectiveness of private schools

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  • Cohen-Zada, Danny
  • Sander, William

Abstract

In this paper, we quantify the religious factor in private education in the United States by estimating a random utility model of school-choice in which households choose among public, private-nonsectarian, Catholic and Protestant schools. The model is estimated using a multinomial logit regression of attendance at different types of private schools using individual data from the General Social Survey. We find that both religion and religiosity have important effects on the demand for private schools. We also provide evidence that previous studies that do not take into account religiosity probably over-estimate the positive influence of private schools on measures of educational attainment. Evidence on the magnitude of this bias is presented.

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  • Cohen-Zada, Danny & Sander, William, 2008. "Religion, religiosity and private school choice: Implications for estimating the effectiveness of private schools," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 85-100, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:64:y:2008:i:1:p:85-100
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    Cited by:

    1. Crystal Zhan, 2018. "School Choice Programs And Location Choices Of Private Schools," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1622-1645, July.
    2. William Sander & Danny Cohen-Zada, 2008. "Religiosity And Parochial School Choice: Cause Or Effect?," Working Papers 0808, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    3. Pierre Courtioux & Tristan-Pierre Maury, 2020. "Private and public schools: A spatial analysis of social segregation in France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 865-882, March.
    4. Schneider, Kerstin & Schuchart, Claudia & Weishaupt, Horst & Riedel, Andrea, 2012. "The effect of free primary school choice on ethnic groups — Evidence from a policy reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 430-444.
    5. Kim, Young-Joo, 2011. "Catholic schools or school quality? The effects of Catholic schools on labor market outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 546-558, June.
    6. Cohen-Zada, Danny & Justman, Moshe, 2012. "Affinity and tension between religious denominations: Evidence from private school enrolment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 950-960.
    7. Tue Gørgens & Chris Ryan & Guochang Zhao, 2020. "Private School Usage in Australia 1975–2010: Evidence from the Household Expenditure Surveys," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 53(2), pages 198-213, June.
    8. Ales Cornanic & Jiri Novak & Jan Sarapatka, 2018. "Religion, Corporate Governance, and Executive Compensation," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 68(1), pages 34-70, February.
    9. Khandker Wahedur Rahman, 2023. "International migration and the religious schooling of children in the home country: evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1963-2005, July.
    10. Raoul van Maarseveen, 2021. "The urban–rural education gap: do cities indeed make us smarter? [Educational investment responses to economic opportunity: evidence from Indian road construction]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(5), pages 683-714.
    11. Lehrer, Evelyn L., 2008. "The Role of Religion in Economic and Demographic Behavior in the United States: A Review of the Recent Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 3541, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Crystal Zhan, 2017. "Institutions, social norms, and educational attainment," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 22-44, January.
    13. Raoul van Maarseveen, 2020. "The urban rural-education gap: do cities indeed make us smarter?," CPB Discussion Paper 412.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. M. Niaz Asadullah & Rupa Chakrabarti & Nazmul Chaudhury, 2015. "What Determines Religious School Choice? Theory And Evidence From Rural Bangladesh," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 186-207, April.
    17. Wodon, Quentin, 2013. "Faith-inspired, Private Secular, and Public Schools in sub-Saharan Africa: Market Share, Reach to the Poor, Cost, and Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 45363, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. William Sander & William Testa, 2015. "Parents' education, school-age children and household location in American cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 573-595, August.
    19. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Maliki,, 2018. "Madrasah for girls and private school for boys? The determinants of school type choice in rural and urban Indonesia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 96-111.
    20. Raoul van Maarseveen, 2020. "The urban rural-education gap: do cities indeed make us smarter?," CPB Discussion Paper 412, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

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