The effect of the oil and gas boom on schooling decisions in the U.S

The development of cost-effective technologies, along with high crude oil and natural gas prices, accelerated shale oil and gas extraction in the United States in the early 2000s. We explore the schooling response to this boom, taking advantage of timing and spatial variation in well-drilling activities. We show that intensive drilling activities decreased grade 11 and 12 enrollment over the 14-year study period—41,760 fewer students enrolled per year across the 15 states considered in this analysis (95% C.I.: 12,685–71,567). We investigate heterogeneous effects and show that the effect was larger in states with a younger compulsory schooling age (16 years of age instead of 17 or 18), in states with a lower effective tax rate on oil and gas production, and in non-metro counties with traditional mining or persistent poverty.