This paper examines whether the substantial benefits reported for attending Catholic schools in the United States also exist for students of Catholic schools in Australia. We find that despite ifs relatively low cost, attendance at Australian Catholic schools increases the probability of completing high school by 17 percentage points. The evidence also suggests that attendance at Australian Catholic schools increases the probability of obtaining higher education and is associated with a superior performance in the labor market.

Francis Vella is a professor of economics at Rutgers University and a Research Fellow at The Institute of Fiscal Studies. He is grateful to David Card for his encouragement to work on this topic and comments on an earlier draft. The author is also grateful for detailed comments from two referees. He would also like to thank Eva Klug for research assistance. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning May 1999 through April 2002 from F. Vella at Economics Department, Rutgers University.

© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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