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Hotter Days, Wider Gap: The Distributional Impact of Heat on Student Achievement

Author

Listed:
  • Mika Akesaka

    (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN)

  • Hitoshi Shigeoka

    (Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, JAPAN, Department of Economics and David Lam Centre, Simon Fraser University, CANADA, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), GERMANY, and National Bureau of Economics Research (NBER), U.S.A.)

Abstract

This study demonstrates that heat disproportionately impairs human capital accumulation among low-performing students compared with their high-performing peers, using nationwide examination data from 22 million students in Japan. Given the strong correlation between academic performance and socioeconomic background, this suggests that heat exposure exacerbates pre-existing socioeconomic disparities among children. However, access to air conditioning in schools significantly mitigates these adverse effects across all achievement levels, with particularly pronounced benefits for lower-performing students. These findings suggest that public investment in school infrastructure can help reduce the unevenly distributed damage caused by heat to student learning, thereby promoting both efficiency and equity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mika Akesaka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2025. "Hotter Days, Wider Gap: The Distributional Impact of Heat on Student Achievement," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-07, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2025-07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2025-07.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Heat; Distributional impact; Student achievement; Adaptation; Air conditioning; Children; Climate change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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