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Were Jews in Interwar Poland More Educated?

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  • Ran Abramitzky
  • Hanna Halaburda

Abstract

In the context of interwar Poland, we find that Jews tended to be more literate than non-Jews, but show that this finding is driven by a composition effect. In particular, most Jews lived in cities and most non-Jews lived in rural areas, and people in cities were more educated than people in villages regardless of their religion. The case of interwar Poland illustrates that the Jewish relative education advantage depends on the historical and institutional contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ran Abramitzky & Hanna Halaburda, 2020. "Were Jews in Interwar Poland More Educated?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8120, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8120
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sascha O. BECKER & Francesco CINNIRELLA, 2020. "Prussia Disaggregated: The Demography of its Universe of Localities in 1871," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 259-290, September.
    2. Ayal, Eliezer B & Chiswick, Barry R, 1983. "The Economics of the Diaspora Revisited," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 861-875, July.
    3. Botticini, Maristella & Eckstein, Zvi, 2005. "Jewish Occupational Selection: Education, Restrictions, or Minorities?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 922-948, December.
    4. Maristella Botticini & Zvi Eckstein, 2013. "The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, 70-1492," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9744.
    5. Maristella Botticini & Zvi Eckstein, 2007. "From Farmers to Merchants, Conversions and Diaspora: Human Capital and Jewish History," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(5), pages 885-926, September.
    6. Spitzer, Yannay, 2019. "Pale in Comparison: Jews as a Rural Service Minority," CEPR Discussion Papers 14262, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    Cited by:

    1. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2017. "Jewish communities and city growth in preindustrial Europe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 339-354.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; illiteracy; Jewish minority; Poland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-

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