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Long-Lasting Effects of Socialist Education

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  • Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola
  • Masella, Paolo

Abstract

Political regimes influence the contents of education and the criteria used to select and evaluate students. We study the impact of a socialist education on the likelihood of obtaining a college degree, as well as on several labor market outcomes, by exploiting the reorganization of the school system in East Germany after reunification. Our identification strategy exploits cut-off birth dates for school enrollment that lead to variation in the length of exposure to the socialist education system within the same birth cohort. We find that an additional year of socialist education substantially decreases the probability of obtaining a college degree, and also affects longer-term labor market outcomes for males. The effects likely stem from non-meritocratic restrictions in access to high school and college, central planning of vocational training, and curricula directed towards the transmission of socialist values in school.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Masella, Paolo, 2013. "Long-Lasting Effects of Socialist Education," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79865, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79865
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

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