12/02/2026 - 12:45 - Doyen 22

  This seminar is cancelled  

Stefano Gagliarducci

(University Tor Vergata)

will give a presentation on 

Church, State and Education: School Funding and Catholic Assimilation in the U.S.

Abstract

This paper studies the consequences of Blaine Amendments — constitutional provisions barring public funding for sectarian schools — on Catholic education and immigrant assimilation in the U.S. during the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1920). We combine full-count census data with newly digitized records of Catholic parishes and schools from the Official Catholic Directory. Exploiting staggered adoption across states and variation in Catholic population across counties, we show that Blaine Amendments triggered a substantial reduction in Catholic schools and enrollment, particularly in counties with larger Catholic populations, where maintaining schooling systems may have been especially costly. Using individual-level census data, we then examine the downstream effects on assimilation. Catholic immigrants exposed to Blaine during school age were more likely to intermarry, speak English, and naturalize, while those first exposed as adults were more likely to naturalize but less likely to intermarry. However, these effects are muted in larger Catholic communities, consistent with models in which enclaves reduce incentives to assimilate. Our findings highlight how state restrictions on religious schooling reshaped the educational landscape and influenced immigrant integration, offering new evidence on the interplay between schooling, religion, and nation-building.

(with Squicciarini M. and Tabellini M.)

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