TY  - JOUR
AU  - Mocan,H. Naci
AU  - Tekin,Erdal
TI  - Catholic Schools and Bad Behavior: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9172
PY  - 2002
Y2  - September 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9172
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9172.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Naci H. Mocan
Department of Economics
Louisiana State University
2119 Patrick F. Taylor Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-6306
Tel: 225/578-4570
E-Mail: mocan@lsu.edu

Erdal Tekin
Department of Economics
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3992
Atlanta, GA 30302-3992
Tel: 404/413-0163
Fax: 404/413-0145
E-Mail: tekin@gsu.edu
AB  - Although there is a sizeable literature on the effect of private school attendance on academic student outcomes, the number of studies that investigate the impact of school sector on non-academic outcomes is limited.  Using a rich data set, we analyze the impact of Catholic school attendance on the likelihood that teenagers use or sell drugs, commit property crime, have sex, join gangs, attempt suicide, and run away from home.  We employ propensity score matching methods to control for the endogeneity of school choice.  Catholic school attendance reduces the propensity to use cocaine and to have sex for female students.  However, it increases the propensity to use and sell drugs for male students.
ER  -