Children's Advancement Through School in Brazil: The Role of Transitory Shocks to Household Income

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Inter-American Development Bank. Please address correspondence to [email protected] This paper investigates the effects of short-run economic shocks on children's progress through school in urban Brazil using a unique panel data set. The severe problem of grade repetition in Brazil contributes to overall low levels of educational attainment. Of children ages 10-15 who are enrolled in school, only 69% advance on average to the next grade. This paper investigates whether children's effort on schoolwork is diminished when fathers experience a transitory shock to income. The results suggest that children's time is used to buffer short-run economic shocks to the household which is consistent with models of education incorporating assumptions of imperfect credit markets. The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Inter-American Development Bank, or to any individual acting on its behalf. The Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) publishes the Latin American Economic Policies Newsletter, as well as working paper series and books, on diverse economic issues. To obtain a complete list of OCE publications, and to read or download them, please visit our Web Site at: