Giulia Santangelo (Cedefop)
Luca Bonacini, Majlinda Joxhe and Fabrizio Patriarca
This study investigates the resilience of academic performance in the aftermath of the 2012 Emilia-Romagna earthquake in Italy. Our analysis focuses on students enrolled at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, the main university affected by the earthquake. We adopt a Difference-in-Differences approach that spans the entirety of students' academic careers and enables us to assess the earthquake's impact over time. By combining geospatial information of the students with their academic histories before and after the earthquake period, we show that the earthquake had a positive impact on academic performance. We find that in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, a substantial and statistically significant increase emerges in the average grades of students who directly experienced this seismic event. Regarding the dynamic effects over time, our evidence showed nuanced impact of trauma on individuals academic trajectories. Our main explanation relates to resilience factors, such as social support and coping strategies, which can mitigate the negative impact of trauma on academic outcomes and the lasting implications of such experiences on individuals' academic performances.