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Length of compulsory education and voter turnout—evidence from a staged reform

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  • Panu Pelkonen

Abstract

In this study, a long-term impact of additional schooling at the lower end of the educational distribution is measured on voter turnout. Schooling is instrumented with a staged Norwegian school reform, which increased minimum attainment by two years – from seven to nine. The impact is measured at two levels: individual, and municipality level. Both levels of analysis suggest that the additional education has no effect on the turnout rates. At the individual level, the impact of education is also tested on various measures of civic outcomes. Of these, only the likelihood of signing a petition is positively affected by education.
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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:150:y:2012:i:1:p:51-75
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-010-9689-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Arnaud Chevalier & Orla Doyle, 2012. "SCHOOLING AND VOTER TURNOUT: Is there an American Exception?," Working Papers 201210, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    2. Harka, Elona & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2022. "Studying more to vote less. Education and voter turnout in Italy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2021. "Education and political engagement," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Naci Mocan & Luiza Pogorelova, 2014. "Compulsory Schooling Laws and Formation of Beliefs: Education, Religion and Superstition," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1423, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    5. Mocan, Naci & Pogorelova, Luiza, 2014. "Compulsory Schooling Laws and Formation of Beliefs: Education, Religion and Superstition," IZA Discussion Papers 8698, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2017. "Effects Of Welfare Reform On Women'S Voting Participation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1430-1451, July.
    7. repec:ces:ifodic:v:14:y:2016:i:1:p:19204346 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Mohamed Amara & AbdelRahmen El Lahga, 2016. "Tunisian constituent assembly elections: how does spatial proximity matter?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 65-88, January.
    9. Bernt Bratsberg & Andreas Kotsadam & Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2019. "Election Turnout Inequality - Insights from Administrative Registers," CESifo Working Paper Series 7465, CESifo.
    10. 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.
    11. Claus Michelsen & Peter Boenisch & Benny Geys, 2014. "(De)Centralization and voter turnout: theory and evidence from German municipalities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 469-483, June.
    12. 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.
    13. Luna Bellani & Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo, 2023. "Educate Some to Represent Many? Education and Female Political Representation in Europe," Working Papers 23.12, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    14. 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.
    15. Naci Mocan & Luiza Pogorelova, 2014. "Compulsory Schooling Laws and Formation of Beliefs: Education, Religion and Superstition," NBER Working Papers 20557, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Rainald Borck, 2018. "Political Participation and the Welfare State," CESifo Working Paper Series 7128, CESifo.
    17. 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.
    18. Borgonovi Francesca & d'Hombres Beatrice & Hoskins Bryony, 2010. "Voter Turnout, Information Acquisition and Education: Evidence from 15 European Countries," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, September.
    19. Yuanyuan Ma, 2017. "Civic Returns to Education: Voter Turnout in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 48(2), pages 145-169.
    20. Raphael Brade & Marc Piopiunik, 2016. "Education and Political Participation," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(1), pages 70-73, 05.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Externalities; Voter turnout; School reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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