The effects of high school athletic participation on education and labor market outcomes

We introduce a simple allocation-of-time model to explain the high school a thletic participation choice and the implications of this choice for educat ional and labor market outcomes. Four different factors that could explain athletic participation are identified in the context of this model. A varie ty of tests of the model are provided using two data sets: the National Lon gitudinal Survey of Youth and the National Longitudinal Study of the High S chool Class of 1972. We find some evidence that athletic participation dire ctly affects wages and educational attainment. However, much of the effect of athletic participation on wages and educational attainment appears to re flect differences across individuals in ability or value of leisure.