Weather and high-stakes exam performance: Evidence from student-level administrative data in Brazil

Xiaoxiao Li and Pankaj C. Patel

Economics Letters, 2021, vol. 199, issue C

Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that weather exposure influences exam performance. Using an administrative dataset of Brazil’s college entrance exam (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio, known as ENEM) from 2012 to 2016, we find that temperature has a negligible impact on test performance, with a 1 °C increase in dry bulb temperature improving the z-score by three-thousandths of a standard deviation. Humidity and rainfall also have limited effects on test performance. These findings are robust to various alternative specifications. In addition, there are no meaningful heterogeneities by test subjects, gender, student score quartiles, or race. Our findings suggest that the weather effect on high-stakes test performance is neither substantive nor conclusive.

Keywords: Weather conditions; High-stakes exam performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:199:y:2021:i:c:s0165176520304584

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109698

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