Katrina's Children: Evidence on the Structure of Peer Effects from Hurricane Evacuees
Abstract
In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced many children to relocate across the Southeast. While schools quickly enrolled evacuees, families in receiving schools worried about the impacts on incumbent students. We find no effect, on average, of the inflow of evacuees on achievement in Houston. In Louisiana we find little impact on average and we reject linear-in-means models. Moreover, we find that student achievement improves with high achieving peers and worsens with low achieving peers. Finally, an increase in the inflow of evacuees raised incumbent absenteeism and disciplinary problems in Houston's secondary schools. (JEL I21, Q54)
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The Imberman et al. (2012) regression is a fuzzy design because the treatment of interest is the proportion of evacuees in one's class, which varies within (school,grade,year) cells.
“This a fuzzy design: the treatment of interest is the proportion of evacuees in one's class, which varies within (school,grade,year) cells.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Imberman et al. (2012)
The stable groups assumption is satisfied for the Imberman et al. (2012) regression because there are schools that did not receive any Katrina evacuee.
“The stable groups assumption is satisfied: there are schools that did not receive any Katrina evacuee.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Imberman et al. (2012)
The Imberman et al. (2012) regression is a three-way fixed effects version of Regression 1.
“This regression is a three-way fixed effects version of Regression 1.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Imberman et al. (2012)
In the Imberman et al. (2012) regression Equation (1), the dependent variable is the test score of student i in school j in grade g and year t, and the explanatory variables are school and grade × year fixed effects, the fraction of Katrina evacuee students received by school j in grade g and year t, and controls.
“In regression Equation (1), the dependent variable is the test score of student i in school j in grade g and year t, and the explanatory variables are school and grade × year fixed effects, the fraction of Katrina evacuee students received by school j in grade g and year t, and some controls.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Imberman et al. (2012)
Students in schools with peers who frequently misbehave see declines in academic performance.
“peers frequently misbehave see declines in academic performance (Deming, 2011; Imberman et al., 2012; Kinsler, 2013).”
From Fostering Belonging, Transforming Schools: The Impact of Restorative Practices (2023) · cites this paper as Imberman et al., 2012
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References 43 · Cited by 299
- Authors
- Imberman, S. A., Kugler, A. D., & Sacerdote, B. I.
- Affiliations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Dartmouth College (US)
- Venue
- American Economic Review
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2012-08-01
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2048-2082
- ISSN
- 0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2063431233
- Cited by
- 299
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 94.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, peer effects, academic performance, peer composition, absenteeism, student discipline, student enrollment, Houston, Louisiana
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