Drug Battles and School Achievement: Evidence from Rio de Janeiro's Favelas

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of armed conflicts between drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro's favelas on student achievement. We explore variation in violence that occurs across time and space when gangs battle over territories. Within-school estimates indicate that students from schools exposed to violence score less in math exams. The effect of violence increases with conflict intensity, duration, and proximity to exam dates; and decreases with the distance between the school and the conflict location. Finally, we find that school supply is an important mechanism driving the achievement results; armed conflicts are significantly associated with higher teacher absenteeism, principal turnover, and temporary school closings.

Human capital consequences of violence in schools: Estimating the impact of violence in schools on education outcomes in Brazil

“…Monteiro and Rocha () estimated the impact of armed conflicts between drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro's favelas on students' academic achievements. Given this documented result, the study investigates whether the main results of this paper hold even after the observations from Rio de Janeiro are omitted.…”

“…The results suggest that both types of violence in school (which together constitute our violence in school variable for survey years 2003 and 2005) support the main findings of this paper. Monteiro and Rocha (2013) estimated the impact of armed conflicts between drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro's favelas on students' academic achievements. Given this documented result, the study investigates whether the main results of this paper hold even after the observations from Rio de Janeiro are omitted.…”

“…An important portion of this literature focuses on the psychological effects of violence on the victim, his family and on the community-a direct, psychological stress-threat mechanism with which violence can impact students' academic performance (Brockenbrough, Cornell, & Loper, 2002;Flannery, Wester, & Singer, 2004;Brown & Taylor, 2008;Ammerm€ uller, 2012). Additionally, another strand notes that these violent incidents can also affect the teachers, nonvictim students, and school staff, and can result in their disengagement from professional responsibilities and consequently, can affect the quality of education provided-an indirect, reduced learning mechanism (Galand, Lecocq, & Philippot, 2007;Michaelsen & Salardi 2013;Monteiro & Rocha, 2013).…”

Internal migration and crime in Brazil

“…High crime, especially homicides, comes with a high economic cost. Aside from public safety expenditures, violent crime is shown to have a negative impact on human capital (Monteiro and Rocha 2016) and health (Manacorda and Koppensteiner 2015). According to the Annual Brazilian Public Safety Report 2014, violent crime alone cost Brazil an equivalent of 5.4 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) (de Seguranca Publica 2014).…”

A Heavy Hand or a Helping Hand? Information Provision and Citizen Preferences for Anti-Crime Policies

“…Non-pecuniary costs are substantial as well. For example, exposure to violence impairs the educational performance of schoolchildren (Koppensteiner and Menezes, 2018;Monteiro and Rocha, 2017), reduces childbearing (Gerardino and Camacho, 2018), and worsens birth outcomes (Koppensteiner and Manacorda, 2013).…”