Learning the Hard Way: The Effect of Violent Conflict on Student Academic Achievement

41 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2014 Last revised: 29 Sep 2022

See all articles by Tilman Brück

Tilman Brück

IGZ - Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops; ISDC - International Security and Development Center; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Michele Di Maio

Sapienza University of Rome

Sami Miaari

Tel-Aviv University; Economic Research Forum (ERF); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract

We study the effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the probability to pass the final high-school exam for Palestinian students in the West Bank during the Second Intifada (2000-2006). By exploiting within-school variation in the number of conflict-related Palestinian fatalities during the academic year, we show that the conflict reduces the probability to pass the final exam and to be admitted to the university. We also provide evidence of the heterogeneous effects of the conflict in terms of ability of the student and type of violent event the student is exposed to. Finally, we discuss possible transmission mechanisms explaining our main result.

Keywords: Palestine, violent conflict, Second Intifada, high-school, academic achievement, fatalities, West Bank, Israel

JEL Classification: I20, O12, O15, F51

Suggested Citation

Brück, Tilman and Di Maio, Michele and Miaari, Sami, Learning the Hard Way: The Effect of Violent Conflict on Student Academic Achievement. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8543, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2514736

Tilman Brück (Contact Author)

IGZ - Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops ( email )

Theodor-Echtermeyer-Str. 1
Grossbeeren, 14979
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.igzev.de

ISDC - International Security and Development Center ( email )

Friedrichstr. 88
Berlin, 10117
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.isd-center.org

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Michele Di Maio

Sapienza University of Rome ( email )

via del Castro Laurenziano 9
Rome
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/micheledimaio/home

Sami Miaari

Tel-Aviv University ( email )

School of Social and Policy Studies, Tel-Aviv Univ
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel

Economic Research Forum (ERF) ( email )

21 Al-Sad Al-Aaly St.
(P.O. Box: 12311)
Dokki, Cairo
Egypt

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

Germany

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