The Unequal Responses to Pandemic-Induced Schooling Shocks

This article investigates the existence of socio-demographic gradients in the schooling shocks experienced by school-aged children and their ability to adjust to the disruptions induced by the containment measures imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on documenting racial, educational, and income disparities in these two essential components of children's human capital accumulation that could have significant implications in the medium and long run. The article finds that children in households from disadvantaged socio-demographic groups (i) were significantly more likely to face severe education disruptions from school cancellations at the onset of the pandemic, (ii) had more-limited access to remote-learning resources such as computers, and (iii) relied more heavily on schools to obtain access to these resources. Notably, these adverse effects severely disrupted children's 2019-20 academic year but were mitigated at the start of the 2020-21 academic year.