Extreme Events, Educational Aspirations and Long-term Outcomes

Rene A. Iwo, Elizabeth Frankenberg, Cecep Sumantri and Duncan Thomas

No 32702, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was an extremely destructive event in Aceh, Indonesia, killing over 160,000 people and destroying infrastructure, homes, and livelihoods over miles of coastline. In its immediate aftermath, affected populations faced a daunting array of challenges. At the population level, questions of how the disaster affected children’s and parents’ aspirations for education and whether it permanently disrupted schooling progression are critical in understanding how shocks affect human capital in the short and long term. We use longitudinal data from the Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Recovery (STAR) to examine how disaster exposure affects educational aspirations and eventual attainment. We find that damage to one’s community depresses aspirations in the short term but that this weakens with time. With respect to educational attainment 15 years after the event, children’s aspirations, parents’ education, and family socioeconomic status are more important determinants of whether children complete high school and go on to tertiary schooling than disaster exposure. While these results likely reflect, at least in part, the successful post-tsunami reconstruction program, they also establish enormous resilience among survivors who bore the brunt of the tsunami.

JEL-codes: I20 O12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-sea and nep-ure
Note: DEV
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Published as René Iwo & Elizabeth Frankenberg & Cecep Sumantri & Duncan Thomas, 2024. "Extreme events, educational aspirations, and long-term outcomes," Population and Environment, vol 46(3).

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