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The Long-term Effects of Student Absence: Evidence from Sweden

Cattan, Sarah ; Kamhöfer, Daniel ; Karlsson, Martin LU and Nilsson, Therese LU (2023) In Economic Journal 133(650). p.888-903
Abstract
Despite the relatively uncontested importance of promoting school attendance in the policy arena, little evidence exists on the causal effect of school absence on long-run outcomes. We address this question by combining historical and administrative records for cohorts of Swedish individuals born in the 1930s. We find that elementary school absence significantly reduces contemporaneous academic performance, final educational attainment and labour income throughout the life cycle. The findings are consistent with a dynamic model of human capital formation, whereby absence causes small immediate learning losses, which cumulate to larger human capital losses over time and lead to worse labour market performance.
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Economic Journal
volume
133
issue
650
pages
888 - 903
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN
1468-0297
DOI
10.1093/ej/ueac078
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3c0ed9c4-c2f4-465f-a315-a9dc49994218
date added to LUP
2022-10-19 16:50:22
date last changed
2023-09-06 13:52:56
@article{3c0ed9c4-c2f4-465f-a315-a9dc49994218,
  abstract     = {{Despite the relatively uncontested importance of promoting school attendance in the policy arena, little evidence exists on the causal effect of school absence on long-run outcomes. We address this question by combining historical and administrative records for cohorts of Swedish individuals born in the 1930s. We find that elementary school absence significantly reduces contemporaneous academic performance, final educational attainment and labour income throughout the life cycle. The findings are consistent with a dynamic model of human capital formation, whereby absence causes small immediate learning losses, which cumulate to larger human capital losses over time and lead to worse labour market performance.}},
  author       = {{Cattan, Sarah and Kamhöfer, Daniel and Karlsson, Martin and Nilsson, Therese}},
  issn         = {{1468-0297}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{650}},
  pages        = {{888--903}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Economic Journal}},
  title        = {{The Long-term Effects of Student Absence: Evidence from Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueac078}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ej/ueac078}},
  volume       = {{133}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}