The Impact of Education on Political Ideology: Evidence from European Compulsory Education Reforms

55 Pages Posted: 3 Sep 2016

See all articles by Andrew Meyer

Andrew Meyer

Marquette University - Department of Economics

Date Written: August 10, 2016

Abstract

Previous research documents a correlation between education and political ideology, usually indicating a positive relationship between education and left-wing political views. In this paper, I examine to what extent this association is causal. I merge political ideology data from 25 waves of Eurobarometer surveys with information on 18 educational reforms in 11 European countries. I then instrument for educational attainment with a regression discontinuity design that estimates the increase in education due to compulsory educational reforms. Notably, it appears that omitted variables bias is important here. I find a significant causal effect of education moving individuals to the right when properly addressing the endogeneity whereas there is a significant association between education and left-wing political ideology when treating education as exogenous. I find that on average, among the individuals compelled into additional education from these specific reforms, an additional year of education moves individuals to the right of the political continuum by about 5-6%. However, I also find no evidence of a causal effect on political ideology for a subgroup of countries.

Keywords: Education, Political ideology, Europe, Compulsory Education Reforms

JEL Classification: D72, I26

Suggested Citation

Meyer, Andrew, The Impact of Education on Political Ideology: Evidence from European Compulsory Education Reforms (August 10, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2832904 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2832904

Andrew Meyer (Contact Author)

Marquette University - Department of Economics ( email )

1530 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53233
United States
414-288-5489 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
630
Abstract Views
3,162
Rank
77,900
PlumX Metrics