IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v237y2024ics0165176524001149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Winter weather on exam dates and matriculation for a prestigious university in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Suzuki, Mizuhiro

Abstract

Whereas there are growing numbers of studies on how heat affects cognitive performance at high-stakes settings, the effect of cold weather has been less studied. To fill this gap, I analyze the effects of winter weather on exam dates on performance at the centralized exam for university admission in Japan. Since students take the exam in their own prefectures, they are exposed to different weather conditions on the exam dates. I find that low temperature and snow cumulated on the ground reduce matriculation shares for the most prestigious university in Japan, the University of Tokyo. This result suggests that the winter weather on exam dates worsens exam performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzuki, Mizuhiro, 2024. "Winter weather on exam dates and matriculation for a prestigious university in Japan," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:237:y:2024:i:c:s0165176524001149
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111631
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176524001149
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111631?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marshall Burke & Solomon M. Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7577), pages 235-239, November.
    2. Cho, Hyunkuk, 2017. "The effects of summer heat on academic achievement: A cohort analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 185-196.
    3. Anthony Heyes & Soodeh Saberian, 2019. "Temperature and Decisions: Evidence from 207,000 Court Cases," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 238-265, April.
    4. Baek-Min Kim & Seok-Woo Son & Seung-Ki Min & Jee-Hoon Jeong & Seong-Joong Kim & Xiangdong Zhang & Taehyoun Shim & Jin-Ho Yoon, 2014. "Weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex by Arctic sea-ice loss," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Melo, Ana Paula & Suzuki, Mizuhiro, 2019. "The effects of heat on cognitive performance: Evidence from a high-stake exam in Brazil," 2019 Annual Meeting, July 21-23, Atlanta, Georgia 290980, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Burke, Marshall & Hsiang, Solomon M & Miguel, Edward, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3g72r0zv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    7. Graff Zivin, Joshua & Song, Yingquan & Tang, Qu & Zhang, Peng, 2020. "Temperature and high-stakes cognitive performance: Evidence from the national college entrance examination in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Ma, Wenjie, 2008. "The causal effect of graduating from a top university on promotion: Evidence from the University of Tokyo's 1969 admission freeze," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 184-196, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johnston, David W. & Knott, Rachel & Mendolia, Silvia & Siminski, Peter, 2021. "Upside-Down Down-Under: Cold Temperatures Reduce Learning in Australia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Preety Srivastava & Trong-Anh Trinh & Xiaohui Zhang, 2022. "Weather effects on academic performance: An analysis using administrative data," Discussion Papers 2207, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    3. Tang, Wenliang & Yang, Mian & Duan, Hongbo, 2023. "Temperature and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    4. Feeny, Simon & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Zhu, Anna, 2021. "Temperature shocks and energy poverty: Findings from Vietnam," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. Cook, Nikolai & Heyes, Anthony, 2020. "Brain freeze: outdoor cold and indoor cognitive performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Serhan Cevik, 2024. "Climate change and energy security: the dilemma or opportunity of the century?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 653-672, July.
    7. Yan Chen & Xiaohong Chen & Hongshan Ai & Xiaoqing Tan, 2022. "Temperature and Migration Intention: Evidence from the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-23, August.
    8. Yuan, Zhengrong & Ding, Hai & Yu, Qiuzuo, 2024. "High temperature, bargaining power and within-firm wage inequality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    9. Chen, Zhenzhu & Li, Li & Tang, Yao, 2024. "Weather, credit, and economic fluctuations: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 406-422.
    10. Nguyen, Ha Minh, 2024. "Beyond the annual averages: Impact of seasonal temperature on employment growth in US counties," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Cosaert, Sam & Nieto Castro, Adrian & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Temperature and the Timing of Work," IZA Discussion Papers 16480, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Li, Xiaoxiao & Patel, Pankaj C., 2021. "Weather and high-stakes exam performance: Evidence from student-level administrative data in Brazil," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    13. Eunsik Chang & María Padilla-Romo, 2019. "The Effects of Local Violent Crime on High-Stakes Tests," Working Papers 2019-03, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    14. Peillex, Jonathan & El Ouadghiri, Imane & Gomes, Mathieu & Jaballah, Jamil, 2021. "Extreme heat and stock market activity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    15. Philippe Kabore & Nicholas Rivers, 2023. "Manufacturing output and extreme temperature: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 191-224, February.
    16. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2024. "The impact of high temperatures on performance in work-related activities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Li, Xue & Smyth, Russell & Xin, Guangyi & Yao, Yao, 2023. "Warmer temperatures and energy poverty: Evidence from Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    18. Sam Cosaert & Adrián Nieto & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2023. "Temperature and Joint Time Use," CESifo Working Paper Series 10464, CESifo.
    19. Dang, Hai-Anh & Hallegatte, Stephane & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2023. "Does Global Warming Worsen Poverty and Inequality? An Updated Review," IZA Discussion Papers 16570, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Villalobos, Laura & Gomez, Julian D. & Garcia, Jorge H., 2023. "Technology Attenuates the Impact of Heat on Learning. Evidence from Colombia," EfD Discussion Paper 23-6, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temperature; Education; University matriculation; Cognitive performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:237:y:2024:i:c:s0165176524001149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.