How effective is compulsory schooling as a policy instrument?

Colm Harmon

IZA World of Labor, 2017, No 348, 348

Abstract: Compulsory schooling laws are a common policy tool to achieve greater participation in education, particularly from marginalized groups. Raising the compulsory schooling requirement forces students to remain in school which, on balance, is good for them in terms of labor market outcomes such as earnings. But the usefulness of this approach rests with how the laws affect the distribution of years of schooling, and the wider benefits of the increase in schooling. There is also evidence that such a policy has an intergenerational impact, which can help address persistence in poverty across generations.

Keywords: compulsory schooling; returns to schooling; intergenerational; human capital; signaling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I26 I28 J10 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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