France’s Almost Public Private Schools

This paper characterizes the determinants and implications of private schooling in a large and detailed set of French data. Empirical models detect negative selection into private schooling on observable and unobservable ability, while State-provided education appears more suitable to students with culturally privileged family backgrounds and high observed ability. The estimated effects are small, as private schools are tightly regulated, but statistically significant and of some interest in a country that supplies abundant public funding to regulated private schools.