Major economic crises affect a country in myriad ways, often resulting in unemployment spikes, increased inequality between financial classes, housing instability, and much more. But how do they impact the educational landscape, particularly at the secondary school level? That's what Pawel Janas, an assistant professor of economics at Caltech, examined in a new study investigating American education rates during the Great Depression. "I expected that if jobs disappeared, many young people would stay in school, as we already have extensive research showing this effect across many settings," Janas says. "But I was struck by how unequal that response was. When youth unemployment rose, boys from more affluent households were more likely to finish high school and even enter some post-secondary education, but the effects were much smaller, or basically absent, for girls and for children from poorer households." Janas's findings are outlined in a recent paper in The Journal of Economic History.…