Divergent historical experiences and inequality in academic achievement: The case of Poland

Divergent histories and changing country boundaries can lead to substantial within country variation in economic and social structures and inequality in economic and social outcomes. Given its changing borders and turbulent history, Poland provides a fertile setting for an examination of the contributions of history-related factors to regional variation in economic and social outcomes. In this paper we focus on academic achievement and find that economic dislocation following the transformation from communism and the absence of long-lasting social institutions as a result of population relocation appear to have had substantial adverse effects on academic achievement in some regions. Regional differences in the economic return to education also appear to contribute to variation in academic achievement.