Previous research has shown a strong and increasing correlation between educational attainment and Euroscepticism. As a result, educational attainment is considered to be a powerful predictor of attitudes towards European integration. However, these findings are predominantly found using cross-sectional research designs, therefore leaving open the possibility of strong selection effects due to pre-adult experiences and dispositions which both may explain educational attainment and political attitudes. To test whether schooling causally reduces Euroscepticism, this paper will exploit data on compulsory schooling age reforms in 12 European countries in combination with 8 rounds of pooled European Social Survey data. These reforms can be used as an exogenous instrument to overcome the problematic endogenous nature of education. By using compulsory schooling reforms within an instrumental variable design, this paper will provide one of the first attempts to better understand whether education has a real causal impact on Euroscepticism or whether these effects are merely due to selection bias. Consequently, this paper will provide a novel insight into the much-debated divide in support for European integration between lower and higher educated.
