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Identity and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from Veiling Ban Removal in Turkey

Author

Listed:
  • Demirel, Merve

    (Stockholm University)

  • Ghazarian, Avenia

    (House of Sustainable Society (HoSS))

Abstract

This paper examines how restrictions on religious expression affect women’s educational attainment. We study the 2010 removal of the headscarf ban in Turkish universities, which had long limited access to higher education for visibly religious women. Our empirical strategy combines cohort-level variation in exposure to the reform with individual-level variation in the propensity to veil within a difference-in- differences framework. We estimate veiling propensities using an early wave of the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey and predict them for a later sample using both machine learning and parametric methods. We show that lifting the ban significantly increased educational attainment among women with a higher propensity to veil. These gains appear to be concentrated around the transition into and progression through secondary school. The results remain similar when, instead of individual-level propensities, we use pre-reform veiling prevalence at the province level as an alternative exposure measure.

Suggested Citation

  • Demirel, Merve & Ghazarian, Avenia, 2026. "Identity and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from Veiling Ban Removal in Turkey," HoSS Working Paper Series 2026-1, Stockholm School of Economics, House of Sustainable Society (HoSS).
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hamisu:2026_001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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