What explains socioeconomic inequality in study abroad participation? New evidence from large-scale administrative data

While studying abroad as part of a degree programme is increasingly common, there are widespread concerns around socioeconomic inequalities in participation. Using large-scale high-quality administrative data from Ireland, we show that students from affluent backgrounds are 1.5 times (46%) more likely to study abroad than non-affluent students. Applying a Gelbach decomposition, we find that prior academic performance and field of study explain most of the observed difference. We also show, for the first time, considerable heterogeneity in the relationship between participation and socioeconomic status by field of study and that inequalities are much greater for high-performing students.