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Title: Study, Work, or Play? The Impact of Repealing Sunday Closing Laws on Educational Attainment

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: Adolescents face daily trade-offs between human capital investment, labor, andleisure. How does the quantity of time-competing options affect youtheducational attainment? In this paper, I exploit state variation in the repeal ofSunday closing laws to examine the impact of an exogenous rise in the number ofcompeting options available to youth on their educational attainment. While therepeal of these laws raises the short-run opportunity cost of studying, it seemsquestionable that retail stores being open for an extra day should play a major rolein human capital investment given the returns to education. Yet I find that thischange to one day of the week adds up to a significant distortion in educationalachievement repealing these laws leads to a decline of 0.18 years of education,and a 2.5 percentage point decrease in the probability of completing high school.The impact is also larger for males than for females. I explore potentialmechanisms for this decline, including increased employment opportunities andrisky behaviors. Finally, I show that this reduction in education leads to adecrease in adult wages of 1.8 percentage points.

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Authors: Lee, Dara

Publisher: Boston University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education

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