Citation

Astorga-Rojas D. SERIEs 2023; 14(3-4): 463-501.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Spanish Economic Association, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s13209-023-00282-2

PMID

38024203

PMCID

PMC10656324

Abstract

This paper evaluates how the July 2005 London terrorist attacks affected Muslim teenagers' education plans and decisions. The attacks triggered a violent backslash against the Muslim community, which could have affected their incentives to continue in full-time education. I examine panel data on educational attitudes from the "Next Steps" Survey in England and use the month the survey was administered to divide individuals into treatment and control groups. I find that the attacks negatively affected the education plans of Muslims, but not those of any other major religious group. The probability of planning to continue in non-compulsory full-time education decreased by around 4.4% points for Muslims after the attacks. This corresponds to a 69% increase in individuals who were not sure whether to continue or drop out of full-time education. However, this change in plans appears to be a temporary reaction, since it did not affect students' actual decisions two years later.

Language: en

Keywords

Education; Terrorism