Higher Education and Prosperity: From Catholic Missionaries to Luminosity in India
利用1911年天主教传教士分布作为工具变量，估计了印度各地区完成高等教育对经济繁荣（以夜间灯光密度衡量）的因果效应，发现高等教育对发展有正向影响。
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.