Too hot or too cold to study? The effect of temperature on student time allocation

B-Tier
Journal: Economics of Education Review
Year: 2021
Volume: 84
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Alberto, Ivan Carlo (not in RePEc) Jiao, Yang (not in RePEc) Zhang, Xiaohan (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper studies the causal effect of temperature on students’ time use for both college and high school students. Students substitute study time with leisure on days with extremely low and high temperatures. Extreme temperatures also have a noticeable heterogeneous effect on time allocation for both groups of students. College students respond to the unpleasant weather by substituting study time with weather-appropriate leisure. In comparison, high school students reduce both class and self-study time, which is more frequent during cold days. Lastly, students in cold and hot climates are observed to react more to the temperature to which they are not acclimatized. Our findings offer a different perspective by uncovering the black box behind the relationship between weather and test scores seen in recent literature.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecoedu:v:84:y:2021:i:c:s0272775721000716
Journal Field
Education
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29