NPR

The Case For Summer Vacation

Economists have long criticized summer vacation as economically inefficient. But one has come to its defense.
Source: Eric Cabanis

Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money's newsletter. You can sign up here.

Put down those Popsicles. No more sleeping in. Beach time is over.

Economists have long hated summer vacation. All those wasted school facilities! All that educational backsliding! Kids are getting dumber!

The conventional wisdom is that summer vacation is a relic of agricultural times, when kids had to help their parents on the farm.

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