Higher Education and Local Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Establishment of U.S. Colleges

Lauren C. Russell, Lei Yu and Michael J. Andrews
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Lauren C. Russell: University of Pennsylvania
Lei Yu: Unaffiliated
Michael J. Andrews: University of Maryland Baltimore County

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2024, vol. 106, issue 4, 1146-1156

Abstract: We investigate how the presence of a college affects local educational attainment. As counterfactuals for current college locations, we use historical “runner-up” locations that were strongly considered to become college sites but were ultimately not chosen. We find that winning counties today have college degree attainment rates 56% higher than runner-up counties and more private-sector employment in human-capital-intensive industries. These effects are not driven primarily by recent in-migration of educated adults, and alternative public investments did not have similar effects on local educational attainment. The results indicate that colleges played an important role in shaping long-run local outcomes.

Date: 2024
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