This paper examines the role of states’ mandatory schooling ages using the High School and Beyond data set merged with various state-level data sources. After controlling for potential endogeneity of the state mandatory schooling age, I find that a higher mandatory schooling age significantly increases the probability that a public school student will complete high school, as well as the probability the student will choose to attend a public school rather than a private school. Thus, a state's mandatory schooling age affects educational attainment. Additionally, by influencing the public - private school decision, a change in a state's mandatory schooling laws will affect the results of any school choice experiment.
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