Biddle, Nicholas2015-12-100964-5292http://hdl.handle.net/1885/69733In this paper, the 2001 Australian Census is used to estimate predicted net benefits of education at a small geographic level. These are then linked to youth in the areas to test the associations with high school participation. This is done separately for Indigenous youth, a population sub-group with historically low levels of education participation. The results confirm that, in general, localised predicted benefits of education do have a significant association with participation. For the Indigenous population, however, there is no significant association between the predicted income benefits of education and participation and only a weak association with the employment benefits.Keywords: indigenous population; participatory approach; returns to education; secondary education; young population; Australia 2001 Census; Australia; Indigenous Australians; returns to education201310.1080/09645292.2010.5118432020-07-06