When a strike strikes twice: Massive student mobilizations and teenage pregnancy in Chile

Abstract

This paper empirically studies the impact of massive and sudden school closures following the 2011 nationwide student strike in Chile on teenage pregnancy. We observe an average increase of 2.7% in teenage pregnancies in response to temporary high school shutdowns, equal to 1.9 additional pregnancies per lost school day. The effect diminishes after three quarters since the strike’s onset. The effects are predominantly driven by first-time mothers aligned with high-school absenteeism periods and are unrelated to the typical seasonality of teenage fertility or pregnancies in other age groups. Additionally, we document that the strike had a larger disruptive role by affecting students’ educational trajectories, evidenced by a persistent increase in dropout rates and a reduction in college admission test take-up for both female and male students.