@article{discovery10149567, journal = {Labour Economics}, title = {Absence, substitutability and productivity: Evidence from teachers}, year = {2022}, month = {June}, volume = {76}, publisher = {Elsevier BV}, note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102167}, author = {Benhenda, A}, abstract = {Teacher absence is a widespread phenomenon, but little is known about its effects on teacher productivity and schools' strategies to cope with this temporary disruptive event through substitute teachers. Using a unique French administrative dataset matching, for each absence spell, each missing secondary school teacher to her substitute teacher, I find that, on average, teacher absence reduces pupil test scores by around 0.40\% of a standard deviation. On average, substitute teachers are unable to mitigate this negative effect. However, there is substantial heterogeneity depending on the type of substitute teacher: certified substitute teachers are able to compensate for up to 25\% of this negative impact, while non-certified substitute teachers have no statistically significant effect.}, keywords = {Absence, Substitutability, Productivity, Teachers} }