PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Douglas N. Harris
AU  - Matthew F. Larsen
TI  - Taken by Storm: The Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Medium-Term Student Outcomes in New Orleans
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.58.5.0819-10367R2
DP  - 2022 Apr 05
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0819-10367R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/03/31/jhr.58.5.0819-10367R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/03/31/jhr.58.5.0819-10367R2.full
AB  - Hurricane Katrina was one of the nation’s worst natural disasters. It also triggered one of the nation’s most intense market-based school reforms, in which almost all traditional public schools were turned into charter schools. We study the effects of these combined events on students who attended New Orleans public schools before and after the storm. Using matched difference-in-differences, we find that student test scores, high school graduation, college attendance, and college graduation all rose sharply. Most racial and income gaps in outcomes declined. The school reforms appear to have been the main mechanism.