Catholics and Catholic Schooling

The effect of Catholic religiosity as indicated by church attendance on the demand for Catholic schooling at the primary and secondary levels is estimated. It is shown that parents’ religiosity has a large effect on the probability that their children attend Catholic schools. Furthermore, estimates of bivariate probit models indicate that parents’ religiosity is an exogenous determinant of Catholic school attendance. Part of the decline in Catholic schooling in the United States is attributed to a decline in Catholic religiosity as measured by church attendance. Data from the National Opinion Research Center’s ‘General Social Survey’ are used.