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Income-Related Gaps in Early Child Cognitive Development: Why Are They Larger in the United States Than in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada?

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce Bradbury

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Jane Waldfogel

    (Columbia University School of Social Work)

  • Elizabeth Washbrook

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract

Previous research has documented significantly larger income-related gaps in children’s early cognitive development in the United States than in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. In this study, we investigate the extent to which this is a result of a more unequal income distribution in the United States. We show that although incomes are more unequal in the United States than elsewhere, a given difference in real income is associated with larger gaps in child test scores there than in the three other countries. In particular, high-income families in the United States appear to translate the same amount of financial resources into greater cognitive advantages relative to the middle-income group than those in the other countries studied. We compare inequalities in other kinds of family characteristics and show that higher income levels are disproportionately concentrated among families with advantageous demographic characteristics in the United States. Our results underline the fact that the same degree of income inequality can translate into different disparities in child development, depending on the distribution of other family resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Bradbury & Jane Waldfogel & Elizabeth Washbrook, 2019. "Income-Related Gaps in Early Child Cognitive Development: Why Are They Larger in the United States Than in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 367-390, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:56:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s13524-018-0738-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-018-0738-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryan Bacic & Angela Zheng, 2022. "Income-Achievement Gaps in Canada," Department of Economics Working Papers 2022-04, McMaster University.
    2. Bacic, Ryan & Zheng, Angela, 2023. "Race and the income-achievement gap," CLEF Working Paper Series 55, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    3. Bacic, Ryan & Zheng, Angela, 2023. "Race and the Income-Achievement Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 16419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Ryan Bacic & Angela Zheng, 2024. "Race and the Income‐Achievement Gap," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 5-23, January.
    5. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.

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