Working Paper: NBER ID: w23571
Authors: Richard J. Murnane; Sean F. Reardon
Abstract: We use data from multiple national surveys to describe trends in private elementary school enrollment by family income from 1968-2013. We note several important trends. First, the private school enrollment rate of middle-income families declined substantially over the last five decades, while that of high-income families remained quite stable. Second, there are notable differences in private school enrollment trends by race/ethnicity, urbanicity, and region of the country. Although racial/ethnic differences in private school enrollment are largely explained by income differences, the urban/suburban and regional differences in private school enrollment patterns are large even among families with similar incomes. In particular, the 90-50 income percentile difference in private school enrollment rates in 2013 is more than three times as large in cities as in the suburbs, and these gaps are larger in the South and West than in the Northeast and Midwest. Factors contributing to these patterns may include trends in income inequality, private school costs and availability, and the perceived relative quality of local schooling options.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I21; I24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| rising family income inequality (D31) | increased residential segregation (R23) |
| increased residential segregation (R23) | affects public school composition and educational outcomes (I24) |
| decline in private school enrollment rates among middle-income families (I21) | influenced by rising private school costs, availability, and perceived quality of local public schooling options (I21) |
| private school enrollment rate of middle-income families (I24) | declined significantly over the last five decades (J19) |
| private school enrollment rate of high-income families (I24) | remained stable (C62) |
| 90-50 income percentile gap in private school enrollment rates (I24) | grew from 5.5 percentage points in 1968 to 9.3 percentage points in 2013 (F62) |
| racial-ethnic differences in private school enrollment (I24) | largely explained by income differences (D31) |
| urban families (R23) | experience larger enrollment gaps compared to suburban families (I24) |
| decline in Catholic school enrollments (Z12) | contributed to widening enrollment gap (I24) |
| significant decrease in Catholic school students from 1989 to 2013 (I21) | contributes to changes in enrollment patterns (I23) |