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What the COVID-19 school closure left in its wake: Evidence from a regression discontinuity analysis in Japan

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  • Takaku, Reo
  • Yokoyama, Izumi

Abstract

To control the spread of COVID-19, the national government of Japan abruptly started the closure of elementary schools on March 2, 2020, but preschools were exempted from this nationwide school closure. Taking advantage of this natural experiment, we examined how the proactive closure of elementary schools affected various outcomes related to children and family well-being. To identify the causal effects of the school closure, we exploited the discontinuity in the probability of going to school at a certain threshold of age in months and conducted fuzzy regression discontinuity analyses. The data are from a large-scale online survey of mothers whose firstborn children were aged 4 to 10 years. The results revealed a large increase in children’s weight and in mothers’ anxiety over how to raise their children. On the outcomes related to marital relationships, such as the incidence of domestic violence and the quality of marriage, we did not find statistically significant changes. These findings together suggest that school closures could have large unintended detrimental effects on non-academic outcomes among children.

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  • Takaku, Reo & Yokoyama, Izumi, 2021. "What the COVID-19 school closure left in its wake: Evidence from a regression discontinuity analysis in Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:195:y:2021:i:c:s0047272720302280
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104364
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    Cited by:

    1. Clarke, Damian & Larroulet, Pilar & Pailañir, Daniel & Quintana, Daniela, 2023. "Schools as Safety Nets: Break-Downs and Recovery in Reporting of Violence against Children," IZA Discussion Papers 15859, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Svaleryd, Helena & Vlachos, Jonas, 2022. "COVID-19 and School Closures," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1008, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. OIKAWA Masato & TANAKA Ryuichi & BESSHO Shun-ichiro & KAWAMURA Akira & NOGUCHI Haruko, 2022. "Do Class Closures Affect Students' Achievements? Heterogeneous effects of students' socioeconomic backgrounds," Discussion papers 22042, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Hideo Akabayashi & Shimpei Taguchi & Mirka Zvedelikova, 2022. "Access to and Demand for Online School Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2022-006(first edition:20, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    5. Kisho Hoshi & Hiroyuki Kasahara & Ryo Makioka & Michio Suzuki & Satoshi Tanaka, 2021. "Trade-off between job losses and the spread of COVID-19 in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 683-716, October.
    6. Takuya Ishino & Yoichi Mizumura & Kazuto Sumita & Takuya Yoshida & Norifumi Yukutake, 2022. "Impact of Teleworking on Childcare Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Owner-Occupied Housing," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 25(4), pages 423-460.
    7. Damian Clarke & Pilar Larroulet & Daniel Paila~nir & Daniela Quintana, 2022. "Schools as a Safety-net: The Impact of School Closures and Reopenings on Rates of Reporting of Violence Against Children," Papers 2206.14612, arXiv.org.
    8. Lili Li & Araz Taeihagh & Si Ying Tan, 2023. "A scoping review of the impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on vulnerable population groups," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Mizuki Komura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2022. "COVID-19, marriage, and divorce in Japan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 831-853, September.
    10. Tsutomu Watanabe & Tomoyoshi Yabu, 2021. "Japan’s voluntary lockdown: further evidence based on age-specific mobile location data," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 333-370, July.
    11. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2023. "COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Isphording, Ingo E. & Lipfert, Marc & Pestel, Nico, 2021. "Does re-opening schools contribute to the spread of SARS-CoV-2? Evidence from staggered summer breaks in Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    13. Malik, Samreen & Mihm, Benedikt & von Suchodoletz, Antje, 2022. "COVID-19 lockdowns and children’s health and well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Takuto Naito & Yasutake Tomata & Tatsui Otsuka & Kanami Tsuno & Takahiro Tabuchi, 2022. "Did Children in Single-Parent Households Have a Higher Probability of Emotional Instability during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, April.
    15. Atsushi Miyawaki & Yusuke Tsugawa, 2022. "Health and Public Health Implications of COVID‐19 in Asian Countries," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 17(1), pages 18-36, January.
    16. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2021. "COVID-19 and the Employment Gender Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 14711, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Sugawara, Shinya & Nakamura, Jiro, 2021. "Long-term care at home and female work during the COVID-19 pandemic," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(7), pages 859-868.
    18. Hurley, James & Walker, Daniel, 2021. "Did the Covid-19 local lockdowns reduce business activity? Evidence from UK SMEs," Bank of England working papers 943, Bank of England.
    19. Taiyo Fukai & Hidehiko Ichimura & Keisuke Kawata, 2021. "Describing the impacts of COVID-19 on the labor market in Japan until June 2020," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 439-470, July.
    20. Shinsuke Asakawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Impact of Temporary School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Academic Achievement of Elementary School Students," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-14, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    21. Quentin Batista & Daisuke Fujii & Taisuke Nakata & Takeki Sunakawa, 2022. "COVID-19 and Suicide in Japan," CARF F-Series CARF-F-542, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    22. Hideo Akabayashi & Shimpei Taguchi & Mirka Zvedelikova, 2021. "Access to and Demand for Online School Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2021-013, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    School closures; Fuzzy RDD; Marital relationship; Children’s weight; Mothers’ anxiety;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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