More Channels, Lower Scores: Entertainment Television and Student Achievement

Andrea Caria, Daniele Checchi, Dimitri Paolini and Paolo Pinotti

No 26168, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin)

Abstract: We study the effects of expanded entertainment television on children's academic performance leveraging the staggered transition from analog to digital TV across Italian provinces between 2008 and 2012, which greatly increased children's entertainment content, and administrative data on standardized test scores for entire cohorts of primary and middle school students. Availability of digital TV reduced literacy and math performance by 0.08 and 0.12 standard deviations, respectively, implying effects of −0.20 and −0.30 standard deviations among children who acquired access to digital TV along the transition. Effects are larger among younger children and among students attending school only in the morning.

Keywords: Television; Schooling; Standardized test scores (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J13 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
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