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Violence, Psychological Stress and Educational Performance during the "War on Drugs" in Mexico

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  • Maren M. Michaelsen
  • Paola Salardi

Abstract

We provide evidence that violence in Mexico related to the "war on drugs" from 2006-2011 had a significant negative impact on educational performance that is primarily attributable to acute psychological stress among students in the immediate aftermath of local violence. Using geographically and temporally disaggregated data we demonstrate that the largest impacts of violence on educational performance result from homicides committed within the vicinity of schools during the week immediately prior to national standardized tests. This short-term impact increases with geographic proximity and levels of violence, and dramatically exceeds the effects of longer-term violence spread over a full school year.

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  • Maren M. Michaelsen & Paola Salardi, 2018. "Violence, Psychological Stress and Educational Performance during the "War on Drugs" in Mexico," Working Papers tecipa-595, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-595
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hjalmarsson, Randi & Machin, Stephen & Pinotti, Paolo, 2024. "Crime and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.
    3. Vesco, Paola & Baliki, Ghassan & Brück, Tilman & Döring, Stefan & Eriksson, Anneli & Fjelde, Hanne & Guha-Sapir, Debarati & Hall, Jonathan & Knutsen, Carl Henrik & Leis, Maxine R. & Mueller, Hannes & , 2025. "The impacts of armed conflict on human development: A review of the literature," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    4. Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi & Steve Machin, 2024. "Crime and Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 11450, CESifo.
    5. Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia, 2023. "Persistence of the Spillover Effects of Violence and Educational Trajectories," IZA Discussion Papers 16374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Pedro P. Orraca‐Romano & Eunice D. Vargas‐Valle, 2020. "Drug‐related violence and the decline in the number of Mexican cross‐border workers," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 485-502, May.
    7. Anousheh Alamir & Tillmann Heidelk, 2020. "Natural Disasters and Education," Working Papers ECARES 2020-05, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Bertoni, Eleonora & Di Maio, Michele & Molini, Vasco & Nisticò, Roberto, 2019. "Education is forbidden: The effect of the Boko Haram conflict on education in North-East Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Pedro Paulo Orraca Romano, 2015. "Crime Exposure and Educational Outcomes in Mexico," Working Paper Series 7715, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    10. Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia, 2023. "Violence-induced migration and peer effects in academic performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    11. Bharati, Tushar, 2022. "The long shadow of the Kargil War: The effect of early-life stress on education," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    12. Barrado, Beatriz & Fernández-Gutiérrez, Marcos & Gimenez, Gregorio, 2024. "Exposure to drug trafficking and school truancy: Empirical evidence from Costa Rica," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Khanna, Gaurav & Marino, Victoria & Tumen, Semih, 2024. "Hometown Conflict and Refugees' Integration Efforts," IZA Discussion Papers 16862, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Gustavo J Bobonis & Roberto Castro & Juan S Morales, 2020. "Legal Reforms, Conditional Cash Transfers, and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Mexico," Working Papers tecipa-678, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    15. Miguel Quintana-Navarrete, 2025. "Local Homicide and Children’s Cognitive Performance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 1137-1159, April.
    16. Hernando Grueso, 2024. "Heterogeneous effects of violence on student achievement: Evidence from Colombia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 1536-1569, March.
    17. Sukanya Basu & Sarah Pearlman, 2017. "Violence and migration: evidence from Mexico’s drug war," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-29, December.
    18. Haugan, Gregory L. & Santos, Rafael, 2024. "Beheading a Hydra: Kingpin Extradition, Homicides, Education Outcomes, and the End of Medellin’s Pax Mafiosa," Documentos CEDE 21073, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    19. Aldeco Leo Lorenzo Rodrigo & Jurado Jose A. & Ramírez-Álvarez Aurora A., 2022. "Internal Migration and Drug Violence in Mexico," Working Papers 2022-11, Banco de México.
    20. Aldeco Leo, Lorenzo & Jurado, Andrés & Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora A., 2024. "Internal migration and drug violence in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Violence; Primary Educational Performance; Psychological Stress; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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