Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/256911 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
KRTK-KTI Working Papers No. KRTK-KTI WP - 2021/40
Publisher: 
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Budapest
Abstract: 
While an extensive literature investigates the effects of longer schooling, we know very little about what happens when compulsory schooling is shortened. This paper looks at the effects of a reform in Hungary that decreased the school leaving age from 18 to 16. We show that the reform increased the probability of being neither in education nor in employment and being inactive at ages 16-18 substantially while its effects on employment are not significantly different from zero in most specifications. These effects are similar among boys and girls but strongly heterogeneous by social background and ability. The reform had a moderate effect on teenage motherhood on average, but it increased the probability of giving birth substantially among the most disadvantaged girls. We conclude that through its heterogenous effects, the reform is expected to widen social inequalities.
Subjects: 
education
teenage fertility
school leaving age
public works
NEET
inactivity
JEL: 
I2
J13
J20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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