Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223526 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8454
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We use high frequency internet search data to study in real time how US households sought out online learning resources as schools closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. By April 2020, nationwide search intensity for both school- and parent-centered online learning resources had roughly doubled relative to baseline. Areas of the country with higher income, better internet access and fewer rural schools saw substantially larger increases in search intensity. The pandemic will likely widen achievement gaps along these dimensions given schools’ and parents’ differing engagement with online resources to compensate for lost school-based learning time. Accounting for such differences and promoting more equitable access to online learning could improve the effectiveness of education policy responses to the pandemic. The public availability of internet search data allows our analyses to be updated when schools reopen and to be replicated in other countries.
Subjects: 
online learning
school closures
internet search
Google trends
Covid-19
JEL: 
I20
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.