The Spillovers of Child Disability on Peers’ Education

Alice Dominici , Bocconi University
Sofia Sierra Vasquez, University of St. Gallen
Nicoletta Balbo, Bocconi University
Massimo Anelli, Bocconi University

We study the causal effect of having classmates with disabilities on schooling outcomes. The use of Chilean administrative data covering more than 1 million students allows us to overcome selection issues in existing studies and to conduct a causal analysis despite the low incidence of disabilities in the population. We find that exposure to disability decreases primary school test scores, with mathematics grades experiencing more lasting effects. We document strong heterogeneity in effects by type of disability: negative effects are driven by intellectual disabilities, whereas language disorders cause improvement in Spanish scores, suggesting positive spillovers from targeted support measures. Moreover, negative spillovers are strongly or fully moderated by maintaining the same teacher for more than one grade, a relatively simple intervention recommended for a wide array of other policy targets.

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 Presented in Session 56. Economy, Human Capital and Labor Markets