Working Paper: NBER ID: w26763
Authors: Ran Abramitzky; Hanna Halaburda
Abstract: In the context of interwar Poland, we find that Jews tended to be more literate than non Jews, but show that this finding is driven by a composition effect. In particular, most Jews lived in cities and most non-Jews lived in rural areas, and people in cities were more educated than people in villages regardless of their religion. The case of interwar Poland illustrates that the Jewish relative education advantage depends on the historical and institutional contexts.
Keywords: Jewish education; literacy; interwar Poland
JEL Codes: J1; J15; N34; N94
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Jewish literacy advantage dissipates when comparing urban Jews to the general urban population (I24) | urban context plays a significant role in educational outcomes (I24) |
| Jews tended to be more literate than non-Jews (N33) | composition effect due to urban concentration of the Jewish population (R23) |
| urban living conditions correlate with higher education levels (R23) | educational choices and outcomes of Jews were influenced by their urban residency (N94) |
| Jewish educational attainment should be interpreted through the lens of urban-rural dynamics (R23) | understanding educational disparities (I24) |