The Impact of Repealing Sunday Closing Laws on Educational Attainment

Dara N. Lee ()
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Dara N. Lee: Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia, https://economics.missouri.edu

No 1117, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Missouri

Abstract: Adolescents face daily trade-offs between human capital investment, labor, and leisure. This paper exploits state variation in the repeal of Sunday closing laws to examine the impact of a distinct and plausibly exogenous rise in the quantity of competing diversions available to youth on their educational attainment. The results suggest that the repeals led to a significant decline in both years of education and the probability of high school completion. I explore increased employment opportunities and risky behaviors as potential mechanisms. Further, I find a corresponding decline of the repeals on adult wages.

Keywords: Wages; educational investment; youth labor supply; blue laws (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J13 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-10-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in the Journal of Human Resources

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:umc:wpaper:1117

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