When Crime Comes to the Neighborhood: Short-Term Shocks to Student Cognition and Secondary Consequences

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chang, Eunsik; Padilla-Romo, Maria
• 署名单位: Mississippi State University; University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/721656
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 997-1039
• 关键词: gender-gap; local violence; achievement; exposure; CHILDREN; QUALITY; schools; HEALTH

摘要

We provide evidence that short-term shocks to student cognitive performance have long-lasting consequences for human capital development. We use administrative data from Mexico City to show that students' exposure to violent crime in the week immediately prior to a high-stakes exam lowers females' test scores by 11% of a standard deviation. As a result, 19% of female students exposed to violent crime are subsequently assigned to less preferred, lower-quality high schools. We find no such effect for males and show that crime-induced concentration problems are an underlying mechanism behind the detrimental effects on females' test scores.