Abstract
We study the effect of a sharp, exogenous, and repeated change in the value of leisure on educational achievement, arising from the overlap of major international football tournaments with high-stakes tests. Using administrative data covering almost all students in England, we find a significant negative average effect of the tournament on exam performance. The odds of reaching the achievement benchmark fall by 12% on average, considerably more for students likely to be interested in football. Analysis of within-student variation shows a 0.02 SD fall in grades, 0.06 SD for the interested. We interpret our results as reflecting changes in student effort.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 111-126 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Public Economics |
| Volume | 172 |
| Early online date | 22 Jan 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2019 |
Research Groups and Themes
- ECON Applied Economics
Keywords
- Educational achievement
- Schools
- Student effort
- Value of leisure
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Dive into the research topics of 'Students' effort and educational achievement: Using the timing of the World Cup to vary the value of leisure'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
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Professor Simon M Burgess
- Bristol Poverty Institute
- Migration Mobilities Bristol
- Centre for Market and Public Organisation
- School of Economics - Professor of Economics
Person: Academic , Member, Group lead