The Social and Political Effects of Higher Education

• In Event: The Impact of (Higher) Education on Political Outcomes (Pre-Recorded)

Abstract

In this book project, we investigate the impact of university education on social and political attitudes. A natural experiment centered on a national baccalaureate exam that qualifies students for entrance into university in Romania provides an opportunity for a regression discontinuity (RD) design. This is supplemented with data from the World Values Survey, which allows for a global examination of the question. For both samples, we examine the impact of university education on a comprehensive set of attitudinal outcomes including social capital (political participation, trust), corruption tolerance, cultural liberalism (attitudes towards sexuality, gender, deviance, religion, family, science, race, immigration), and ideology (political party affiliation). Based on our findings, we discuss the relationship between universities and liberalism and what theory might account for the documented patterns.

Authors

• John Gerring, University of Texas, Austin

• Brendan Apfeld, University of Texas, Austin

• Stephen Jessee, University of Texas, Austin

• Emanuel Coman, Trinity College Dublin