Have Covid school closures widened the gap between the haves and have nots and, if so, can policy close it again?
Matthias Doepke, Fabrizio Zilibotti, 19 April 2022
Francesco Agostinelli, Matthias Doepke, Giuseppe Sorrenti, Fabrizio Zilibotti, 21 January 2022
How have school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic affected children's education? This column argues that channels operating through schools, peer effects, and parental investments have all contributed to massively growing educational inequality during the pandemic. Among 9th graders, children from low-income neighbourhoods in the US are predicted to suffer a learning loss equivalent to almost half a point on the four-point GPA scale, whereas children from high-income neighbourhoods remain unscathed.