The political effects of rural school closures – Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

In times of economic hardship, local governments often resort to school closures. These are often directed towards struggling rural communities, already experiencing substantial depopulation. The affected communities often react with fierce protests against responsible politicians. However, the political effects of school closures have mostly been overlooked in previous research. By using a novel geocoded dataset on all rural school closures in Sweden between 2013 and 2020, this study explores their political ramifications. The results show that school closures decrease the trust in municipal politicians and have negative effects on the support for the incumbent, an effect that is most pronounced for left-leaning parties. This study contributes to the literature on rural school closures and welfare retrenchments and expands previous research on social decommissioning in rural areas to include educational policies.