Adolescents face daily trade-offs between human capital
investment, labor, and leisure. This paper exploits state variation in
the repeal of Sunday closing laws to examine the impact of a
distinct and plausibly exogenous rise in the quantity of competing
diversions available to youth on their educational attainment. The
results suggest that the repeals led to a significant decline in both
years of education and the probability of high school completion. I
explore increased employment opportunities and risky behaviors as
potential mechanisms. Further, I find a corresponding decline of
the repeals on adult wages.