Higher Education and Prosperity: From Catholic Missionaries to Luminosity in India

Article Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Economic Journal

Abstract

This article estimates the impact of completed higher education on economic prosperity across Indian districts. To address the endogeneity of higher education, we use the location of Catholic missionaries circa 1911 as an instrument. Catholics constitute a very small share of the population in India and their influence beyond higher education has been limited. Our instrumental variable results find a positive effect of higher education on development, as measured by light density. The results are robust to alternative measures of development, and are not driven by lower levels of schooling or other channels by which missionaries could impact current income.

First Page

3039

Last Page

3075

DOI

10.1111/ecoj.12551

Publication Date

12-1-2018

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