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Trauma at School: The Impacts of Shootings on Students’ Human Capital and Economic Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Marika Cabral
  • Bokyung Kim
  • Maya Rossin-Slater
  • Molly Schnell
  • Hannes Schwandt

Abstract

We examine how shootings at schools—an increasingly common form of gun violence in the States—impact the educational and economic trajectories of students. Using linked schooling and labor market data in Texas from 1992 to 2018, we compare within-student and across-cohort changes in outcomes following a shooting to those experienced by students at matched control schools. We find that school shootings increase absenteeism and grade repetition, reduce high school graduation, college enrollment, and college completion; and reduce employment and earnings at ages 24–26 years. We further find school-level increases in the number of leadership staff and reductions in retention among teachers and teaching support staff in the years following a shooting. The adverse impacts of shootings span student characteristics, suggesting that the economic costs of school shootings are universal.

Suggested Citation

  • Marika Cabral & Bokyung Kim & Maya Rossin-Slater & Molly Schnell & Hannes Schwandt, 2026. "Trauma at School: The Impacts of Shootings on Students’ Human Capital and Economic Outcomes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 93(1), pages 327-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:93:y:2026:i:1:p:327-365.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdaf027
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Montolio & Pere A. Taberner, 2025. "Crime at your doorstep: Gender-specific effects on university student performance," Working Papers 2025/07, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    2. Perez Castano, Ana Melissa, 2024. "Mass Shootings and their Effects on Eating Behavior and Shopping Mode," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343602, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Randi Hjalmarsson & Stephen Machin & Paolo Pinotti, 2024. "Crime and the labor market," CEP Discussion Papers dp2044, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Hjalmarsson, Randi & Machin, Stephen & Pinotti, Paolo, 2024. "Crime and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.
    5. Gonzalez, Felipe & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Police Repression and Protest Behavior: Evidence from Student Protests in Chile," SocArXiv 3xk5r, Center for Open Science.
    6. Partha Deb & Anjelica Gangaram, 2024. "The effects of school shootings on risky behavior, health, and human capital," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-28, March.
    7. repec:crm:wpaper:2624 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Congdon Fors, Heather & Isaksson, Ann-Sofie & Lindskog, Annika & Sepahvand, Mohammad, 2026. "A war against education?," Working Papers in Economics 861, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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