Working Paper: NBER ID: w9358
Authors: Joseph G. Altonji; Todd E. Elder; Christopher R. Taber
Abstract: Several previous studies have relied on religious affiliation and the proximity to Catholic schools as exogenous sources of variation for identifying the effect of Catholic schooling on a wide variety of outcomes. Using three separate approaches, we examine the validity of these instrumental variables. We find that none of the candidate instruments is a useful source of identification of the Catholic school effect, at least in currently available data sets
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I2; C2
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| proximity to Catholic schools (di) (Z12) | high school graduation (I23) |
| proximity to Catholic schools (di) (Z12) | college attendance (I23) |
| Catholic school attendance (Z12) | educational outcomes (I26) |
| Catholic school attendance (Z12) | high school graduation (I23) |
| Catholic school attendance (Z12) | college attendance (I23) |
| religious affiliation (ci) (Z12) | high school graduation (I23) |
| religious affiliation (ci) (Z12) | college attendance (I23) |