Austerity Harmed Student Achievement
利用意大利市镇数据，研究发现紧缩性支出削减导致学生数学和阅读成绩分别下降约5.1%和4.6%个标准差，且对家庭资源有限的学生影响更大。
Abstract This paper shows that austerity spending cuts harmed student performance in standardised national tests. To identify this relationship, we use cross-municipality variation in the timing of eligibility for the Italian Domestic Stability Pact as an exogenous shifter of local public spending. We then compare test scores for students that were from the same municipality, but who were exposed to different levels of austerity cuts based on their birth year. Combining administrative data on public spending and test scores with an instrumental variable model, we show that the test score impact from austerity spending cuts is around 5.1% of a standard deviation in math and 4.6% in reading. These effects are more pronounced for children with limited resources at home. We provide suggestive evidence that school budget cuts account for most of the observed test score impact.