Working Paper: NBER ID: w28200
Authors: David A. Green; Ali Karimirad; Galle Simard-Duplin; Henry E. Siu
Abstract: The extent to which K-12 schools should remain open is at the forefront of discussions on long-term pandemic management. In this context, there has been little mention of the immediate importance of K-12 schooling for the rest of the economy. Eliminating in-person schooling reduces the amount of labour time parents of school-aged children have available to work, and therefore reduces income to those workers and the economy as a whole. We discuss two measures of economic importance, and how they can be modified to better reflect the vital role played by K-12 education. The first is its size, as captured by the fraction of GDP that is produced by that sector. The second is its centrality, reflecting how essential a sector is to the network of economic activity. Using data from Canada’s Census of Population and Symmetric Input-Output Tables, we show how accounting for this role dramatically increases the importance of K-12 schooling.
Keywords: COVID-19; K-12 schooling; economic impact; parental labor supply
JEL Codes: E01; I20; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| In-person K-12 schooling (I21) | Availability of parental labor (J22) |
| Availability of parental labor (J22) | Economic productivity (O49) |
| In-person K-12 schooling (I21) | Economic productivity (O49) |
| Closing schools (I21) | Availability of parental labor (J22) |
| Closing schools (I21) | Economic productivity (O49) |