The Effects of Catholic Schooling on Civic Participation

The promotion of civic engagement is one of the fundamental goals of public schooling. In this study, I examine the comparative effects of Catholic and public schools on adult voter participation and volunteering. I find that students who attended Catholic high schools are substantially more likely to vote, though not volunteer, as adults. I also find that these effects are robust to conditioning on a rich set of background traits. Estimates based on conventional instrumental variables for attending Catholic schools also generate similar results. However, I present evidence that these instruments appear to violate the exclusion restrictions. Therefore, the possibility that the positive, partial correlations between Catholic schooling and adult voter turnout reflect selection biases cannot be dismissed. I would like to thank the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) for their financial assistance. I would also like to thank Derek Neal for providing data on Catholic high schools. The usual disclaimers apply.