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The Academic Impact of Natural Disasters: Evidence from L'Aquila Earthquake

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  • Di Pietro, Giorgio

    (European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the L'Aquila earthquake on the academic performance of the students of the local university. Following this traumatic event, not only are students likely to have developed an acute stress disorder, but they have also experienced a significant disruption in their learning environment because of the closure of several university buildings and the relocation to temporary premises. We compare changes in educational outcomes among students of the University of L'Aquila before and after the earthquake with changes in educational outcomes during the same time period among students enrolled at other Central Italian universities. The empirical results suggest that while this natural disaster has reduced students' probability of graduating on time by 6.6 percentage points, it has had no statistically significant effect on university drop-out in the very short-term. Additionally, the on-time graduation result masks differential gender effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Di Pietro, Giorgio, 2015. "The Academic Impact of Natural Disasters: Evidence from L'Aquila Earthquake," IZA Discussion Papers 8867, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8867
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    1. Carmen Aina & Eliana Baici & Giorgia Casalone, 2011. "Time to degree: students' abilities, university characteristics or something else? Evidence from Italy," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 311-325.
    2. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    3. Schnepf, Sylke V., 2014. "Do Tertiary Dropout Students Really Not Succeed in European Labour Markets?," IZA Discussion Papers 8015, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Giorgio Di Pietro, 2006. "Regional labour market conditions and university dropout rates: Evidence from Italy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 617-630.
    5. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    6. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kyle Breen & Mauricio Montes & Haorui Wu & Betty S. Lai, 2023. "College Students and Environmental Disasters: A Review of the Literature," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Seth Gershenson & Erdal Tekin, 2018. "The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(4), pages 513-544, Fall.
    3. Marina Murat & Luca Bonacini, 2020. "Coronavirus pandemic, remote learning and education inequalities," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0177, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    4. Giorgio Di Pietro & Federico Biagi & Patricia Costa & Zbigniew Karpinski & Jacopo Mazza, 2020. "The likely impact of COVID-19 on education: Reflections based on the existing literature and recent international datasets," JRC Research Reports JRC121071, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Sarah Gust, 2024. "(Not) Going to School in Times of Climate Change: Natural Disasters and Student Achievement," ifo Working Paper Series 413, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Cuffe, Harold E & Wills, Olivia, 2018. "Opportunity from disaster: Evidence of the Christchurch earthquake’s effects on high schoolers’ post-graduation outcomes," Working Paper Series 7891, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Cuffe, Harold E & Wills, Olivia, 2018. "Opportunity from disaster: Evidence of the Christchurch earthquake’s effects on high schoolers’ post-graduation outcomes," Working Paper Series 20850, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    L'Aquila earthquake; academic performance; difference-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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