%0 Report
        %A Ballatore, Rosario Maria
%A Palma, Alessandro
%A Vuri, Daniela
        %T Degrees of Deception: How Score Manipulation Mitigates Temperature's Impact on Student Performance
        %D 2025
        %8 2025 Jan
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 17643
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp17643
        %X Using Italian data on the universe of mandatory tests conducted in a low-stakes setting without air conditioning, we investigate the effect of temperature on student performance, with a focus on how manipulation distorts causal estimates of temperature effects on test scores. While high temperatures adversely affect students' performance, we find that score manipulation also increases with temperature within a specific range. Leveraging the random assignment of inspectors to schools as a natural experiment, we estimate the effect of temperature on test scores net of manipulation. We find that achievement declines at lower temperature thresholds when manipulation is accounted for, implying a larger number of affected students than previously estimated. Additionally, individual survey responses collected during the tests indicate that very high temperatures induce shifts in students' emotional states, affecting self-esteem and anxiety levels.
        %K student performance
%K temperature
%K manipulation
%K cognitive ability
%K emotional stress