In the United States, people with more education vote more. But, we know little about why education increases political participation or whether higher-quality education increases civic participation. We study applicants to Boston charter schools, using school lotteries to estimate charter attendance impacts for academic and voting outcomes. First, we confirm large academic gains for students in the sample of charter schools and cohorts investigated here. Second, we find that charter attendance boosts voter participation. Voting in the first presidential election after a student turns 18 increased substantially, by six percentage points from a base of 35 percent. The voting effect is driven entirely by girls and there is no increase in voter registration. Rich data and the differential effects by gender enable exploration of multiple potential channels for the voting impact. We find evidence consistent with two mechanisms: charter schools increase voting by increasing students’ noncognitive skills and by politicizing families who participate in charter school education.
Why Does Education Increase Voting? Evidence from Boston’s Charter Schools
Keywords
charter schools, school choice, civic participation, returns to education
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/45w9-cg50
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Cohodes, Sarah R., and James J. Feigenbaum. (). Why Does Education Increase Voting? Evidence from Boston’s Charter Schools. (EdWorkingPaper:
-469). Retrieved from
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