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. 2020 Aug:68:100524.
doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100524. Epub 2020 Jun 18.

Inequality in learning opportunities during Covid-19: Evidence from library takeout

Mads Meier Jæger  1 , Ea Hoppe Blaabæk  1   2
Affiliations

Inequality in learning opportunities during Covid-19: Evidence from library takeout

Mads Meier Jæger et al. Res Soc Stratif Mobil. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Research shows that Covid-19 enhanced inequality in families' learning environments. We use register data from Denmark to analyze inequality in families' takeout of digital children's books from public libraries. Our register data, which include more than 55 million observations of families' daily library takeout, show that the socioeconomic gradient in library takeout (by parents' education and income) that existed before the Covid-19 lockdown increased after the lockdown. We also find that the increase in the socioeconomic gradient during Covid-19 was weaker in immigrant than in native families, stronger in families with recent experience in taking out digital materials from the library, and stronger in families with children in the early stages of elementary school. Overall, our results suggest that Covid-19 increased inequality in learning opportunities because better off families were more successful at using libraries during the pandemic than worse off families.

Keywords: Covid-19; Denmark; Inequality; Learning loss; Library use; Register data.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(a) Mean Takeout of Digital Children's Books, By Education. (b) Mean Takeout of Digital Children's Books, By Income.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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