This paper studies the intergenerational impact of parental job loss on school performance during the Great Recession in Spain. Collecting data through parental surveys in a school in the province of Barcelona, I obtain information about the parental labour market status before and after the Great Recession. I can then link this information to repeated information on their children’s school performance, for a sample of over 300 students. Using individual fixed effects, the estimates show a negative and significant decrease on average grades of around 15% of a standard deviation after father’s job loss. These results are mainly driven by those students whose fathers suffer long unemployment spells. In contrast, the average impact of mother’s job loss on school performance is close to zero and non-significant. The decline in school performance during the Great Recession after father’s job loss, particularly among disadvantaged students, could result in detrimental long-term effects that might contribute to increased inequality. This could be an important and underemphasised cost of recessions.

中文翻译：

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家庭失业：大萧条期间儿童的学校表现

本文研究了西班牙大萧条期间父母失业对学校成绩的代际影响。通过在巴塞罗那省一所学校的父母调查收集数据，我获得了大萧条前后父母劳动市场状况的信息。然后，我可以将此信息链接到有关他们孩子的学校成绩的重复信息，以300多名学生为样本。使用个人固定效应，估计值显示父亲失业后，平均成绩出现负显着下降，约为标准偏差的15％。这些结果主要是由那些父亲遭受长期失业困扰的学生获得的。相比之下，母亲失业的平均影响对学校成绩的影响几乎为零，且无统计学意义。在父亲失业后，特别是在处境不利的学生中，大萧条期间学校学习成绩下降，可能导致长期不利影响，可能加剧不平等现象。这可能是经济衰退的一个重要且未被强调的代价。