Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids
Carrell SE, Hoekstra ML · 2010
grade Bquasi-experimentindependentreplicated
Sample
Elementary school records for a Florida county matched to domestic-violence court cases
Population
US elementary schools.
Design
Identifies the effect of a disruptive classmate using children whose families appear in domestic-violence court records — a source of disruption that is plausibly unrelated to the other children in the class. Results are shown to hold within families (sibling comparisons) and with school-by-year fixed effects, ruling out both selection and common shocks.
Key findings
Children from troubled families significantly decrease the reading and math test scores of their classmates and increase misbehaviour in the classroom. The achievement spillovers survive within-family differencing and school-by-year fixed effects.
Genetic confound
Low, and unusually so — the within-family specification means the estimate cannot be driven by the heritable characteristics of the affected children or their parents.
Replication notes
Replicated and extended to adult outcomes by Carrell, Hoekstra & Kuka 2018, and consistent with Figlio 2007's independent identification strategy.
DOI / URL
10.1257/app.2.1.211
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classmates' reading and math test scores | direction and robustness | significantly decreased; robust within families and to school-by-year fixed effects | standardized | same school year | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Classmate misbehaviour | direction | increased | standardized | same school year | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | behaviour |
Cited by
- How should a school run its classrooms and its discipline system?mixedconf: mediumgc: low