IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/22107.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inequalities in Student Learning and Screen Time Due to COVID-19: Evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • NISHIHATA Masaya
  • KOBAYASHI Yohei

Abstract

We examine the impact of COVID-19-related school closures on student learning and screen time. We find that between January 2020 (pre-COVID-19) and May 2020, as the length of a COVID-19-related school closure increased, there was a decrease in learning time and an increase in screen time. These adverse effects tend to be more pronounced for students in low-income households, low academic achievers, and elementary school students living in single-parent households. Moreover, the increase in screen time may have persisted until January 2021 for elementary school students in single-parent households. On average, while live online classes mitigated the effects of decreased learning time for junior high school students, that effect is not found for low academic achievers.

Suggested Citation

  • NISHIHATA Masaya & KOBAYASHI Yohei, 2022. "Inequalities in Student Learning and Screen Time Due to COVID-19: Evidence from Japan," Discussion papers 22107, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:22107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/22e107.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoav Benjamini & Abba M. Krieger & Daniel Yekutieli, 2006. "Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 93(3), pages 491-507, September.
    2. Michael Baker, 2013. "Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 1014-1036, August.
    3. Kawaguchi, Daiji, 2016. "Fewer school days, more inequality," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 35-52.
    4. David Jaume & Alexander Willén, 2019. "The Long-Run Effects of Teacher Strikes: Evidence from Argentina," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(4), pages 1097-1139.
    5. Grewenig, Elisabeth & Lergetporer, Philipp & Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger & Zierow, Larissa, 2021. "COVID-19 and educational inequality: How school closures affect low- and high-achieving students," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Eric P. Bettinger & Lindsay Fox & Susanna Loeb & Eric S. Taylor, 2017. "Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2855-2875, September.
    7. Alison Andrew & Sarah Cattan & Monica Costa Dias & Christine Farquharson & Lucy Kraftman & Sonya Krutikova & Angus Phimister & Almudena Sevilla, 2020. "Inequalities in Children's Experiences of Home Learning during the COVID‐19 Lockdown in England," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 653-683, September.
    8. M Paula Cacault & Christian Hildebrand & Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti & Michele Pellizzari, 2021. "Distance Learning in Higher Education: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment [A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 2322-2372.
    9. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2007. "The Impact of Length of the School Year on Student Performance and Earnings: Evidence From the German Short School Years," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1216-1242, October.
    10. Aucejo, Esteban M. & French, Jacob & Ugalde Araya, Maria Paola & Zafar, Basit, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Kono, Hisaki & Sawada, Yasuyuki & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2016. "DVD-based distance-learning program for university entrance exams -- RCT experiments in rural Bangladesh," IDE Discussion Papers 580, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    12. Marcotte, Dave E., 2007. "Schooling and test scores: A mother-natural experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 629-640, October.
    13. Masato Ikeda & Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2021. "Online learning during school closure due to COVID-19," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 471-507, July.
    14. Bacher-Hicks, Andrew & Goodman, Joshua & Mulhern, Christine, 2021. "Inequality in household adaptation to schooling shocks: Covid-induced online learning engagement in real time," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    15. ASAKAWA Shinsuke & OHTAKE Fumio, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on the Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills of Elementary School Students," Discussion papers 22075, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2021. "The Legacy of COVID-19 in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14796, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2022. "Lifetime Consequences of Lost Instructional Time in the Classroom: Evidence from Shortened School Years," CESifo Working Paper Series 9892, CESifo.
    3. Oikawa, Masato & Tanaka, Ryuichi & Bessho, Shun-ichiro & Kawamura, Akira & Noguchi, Haruko, 2022. "Do Class Closures Affect Students' Achievements? Heterogeneous Effects of Students' Socioeconomic Backgrounds," IZA Discussion Papers 15751, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis & Vélez-Grajales, Roberto & López-Calva, Luis F., 2022. "The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on learnings," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Hideo Akabayashi & Shimpei Taguchi & Mirka Zvedelikova, 2023. "School ICT resources, teachers, and online education:Evidence from school closures in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2023-008, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    6. Hardt, David & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2022. "Can peer mentoring improve online teaching effectiveness? An RCT during the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Hardt, David & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2023. "Tutoring in (online) higher education: Experimental evidence," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Major, Lee Elliott & Eyles, Andrew & Machin, Stephen, 2021. "Unequal learning and labour market losses in the crisis: consequences for social mobility," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114413, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. repec:dpr:wpaper:1207 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Riudavets-Barcons, Marc & Uusitalo, Roope, 2023. "School Closures and Student Achievement: Evidence from a High Stakes Exam," IZA Discussion Papers 16074, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Clark, Andrew E. & Nong, Huifu & Zhu, Hongjia & Zhu, Rong, 2021. "Compensating for academic loss: Online learning and student performance during the COVID-19 pandemic," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2022. "COVID-19, college academic performance, and the flexible grading policy: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    13. Shinsuke Asakawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Impact of Temporary School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Academic Achievement of Elementary School Students," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-14, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    14. Liao, Haoye & Ma, Sen & Xue, Hao, 2022. "Does school shutdown increase inequality in academic performance? Evidence from COVID-19 pandemic in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Ludger Wößmann, 2020. "Folgekosten ausbleibenden Lernens: Was wir über die Corona-bedingten Schulschließungen aus der Forschung lernen können," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(06), pages 38-44, June.
    16. Philipp Ager & Katherine Eriksson & Ezra Karger & Peter Nencka & Melissa A. Thomasson, 2024. "School Closures during the 1918 Flu Pandemic," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(1), pages 266-276, January.
    17. Martin Nistal & María Edo, 2022. "More time less time? The effect of lengthening the school day on learning trajectories," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4578, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    18. Kóczán, Zs., 2024. "Lasting scars: The long-term effects of school closures on earnings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    19. Nicola Fuchs-Schünde & Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2022. "The Long-Term Distributional and Welfare Effects of Covid-19 School Closures," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(645), pages 1647-1683.
    20. Kubota, Kohei, 2016. "Effects of Japanese compulsory educational reforms on household educational expenditure," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 47-60.
    21. Akabayashi, Hideo & Taguchi, Shimpei & Zvedelikova, Mirka, 2023. "Access to and demand for online school education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:22107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.