High school students are at risk: high temperatures decrease academic performance and daily school attendance. Can we mitigate these negative effects through better policies? This project proposes to answer this question by collecting and analyzing comparative data from Latin American countries and exploring the mechanisms under which existing public policies can mitigate the adverse effects of weather on schooling outcomes.
The objective of this project is to offer solid evidence on whether existing policies mute or exacerbate the effects of weather variability on schooling outcomes (attendance, scores), and to actively engage in the debate about education gaps in developing countries in the context of adaptation to climate change.
As previous results suggest, the challenge is twofold:
- First, incentives are required to reduce weather-induced absenteeism.
- Second, protective responses are needed to mute the negative effects of heat on learning and performance.
We propose to look at the effect of existing cash and in-kind transfers in reducing the weather-induced absenteeism. In addition, we will explore whether smarter schedules design has the potential to improve academic performance.
