Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
财富与教育起飞的起源
Wealth and the origins of the education take-off
摘要
What role does wealth play in shaping educational choices? While theoretical frameworks generate elaborate, testable predictions, there are significant hurdles in empirically assessing this relationship. In modern societies, compulsory education laws conceal the impact of wealth on educational decisions. To address this challenge, we draw on a unique dataset from 1858 that records municipal-level wealth shares alongside primary school enrollment across Sicily, an ideal historical setting in which schools were present in nearly every municipality, yet attendance was voluntary. Leveraging the long-term effects of historical earthquakes on land and property distribution-effects that reshaped the wealth structure of Sicilian municipalities in the mid-19th century, we examine the impact of wealth on schooling decisions. Our analysis shows that wealth played a significant role in educational outcomes even in a largely agrarian context: a 10% increase in the share of wealthy households was associated with a 0.6% increase in primary school enrollment.
中文摘要
财富在塑造教育选择中扮演何种角色？尽管理论框架能够产生详尽且可检验的预测，但在实证评估这一关系时仍面临重大障碍。在现代社会中，义务教育法掩盖了财富对教育决策的影响。为应对这一挑战，我们利用1858年一项独特的数据集，该数据集记录了西西里各市镇的财富份额与小学入学率。这一历史背景具有理想的研究条件：几乎每个市镇都设有学校，但入学完全自愿。借助历史地震对土地与财产分配的长期影响——这些影响在19世纪中期重塑了西西里各市镇的财富结构，我们考察了财富对教育决策的作用。分析表明，即便在高度农业化的背景下，财富对教育成果仍具有显著影响：富裕家庭比例每增加10%，小学入学率相应提高0.6%。