TY - JOUR PY - 2010// TI - Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids JO - American economic journal: applied economics A1 - Carrell, Scott E. A1 - Hoekstra, Mark L. SP - 211 EP - 228 VL - 2 IS - 1 N2 - There is a widespread perception that externalities from troubled children are significant, though measuring them is difficult due to data and methodological limitations. We estimate the negative spillovers caused by children from troubled families by exploiting a unique dataset in which children's school records are matched to domestic violence cases. We find that children from troubled families significantly decrease the reading and math test scores of their peers and increase misbehavior in the classroom. The achievement spillovers are robust to within-family differences and when controlling for school-by-year effects, providing strong evidence that neither selection nor common shocks are driving the results. (JEL D62, I21, J12, J13, K42)
LA - SN - 1945-7782 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.2.1.211 ID - ref1 ER -