Long-Lasting Effects of Socialist Education

Konferenzbeitrag

Political regimes influence the contents of education and the criteria used to select and evaluate students. We study the impact of a socialist education on the likelihood of obtaining a college degree, as well as on several labor market outcomes, by exploiting the reorganization of the school system in East Germany after reunification. Our identification strategy exploits cut-off birth dates for school enrollment that lead to variation in the length of exposure to the socialist education system within the same birth cohort. We find that an additional year of socialist education substantially decreases the probability of obtaining a college degree, and also affects longer-term labor market outcomes for males. The effects likely stem from non-meritocratic restrictions in access to high school and college, central planning of vocational training, and curricula directed towards the transmission of socialist values in school.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2013: Wettbewerbspolitik und Regulierung in einer globalen Wirtschaftsordnung - Session: University Enrollment and Student Achievement ; No. A07-V3

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola ; Masella, Paolo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
• (where): Kiel und Hamburg
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/79865
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET