Accounting

Pathology

Earnings

Demographic economics

Economic growth

Political science

Econometrics

Economics

Compulsory education

Difference in differences

Natural experiment

Medicine

Journal of the Finnish Economic Association

This paper demonstrates how a natural experiment in education can be used to estimate causal effects. The Swedish compulsory school reform extended basic education gradually across cohorts and municipalities, allowing for a difference-in-differences analysis. The paper summarizes the literature using this reform and shows that it provided individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds with better opportunities in life. Not only did they attain higher levels of education – they also earned higher earnings, were less likely to participate in crime, and more likely to run for office.

A researcher’s guide to the Swedish compulsory school reform