IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hka/wpaper/2021-033.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Luis Garcia

    (Clemson University)

  • Frederik Bennhoff

    (The University of Chicago)

  • Duncan Ermini Leaf

    (University of Southern California)

  • James J. Heckman

    (The University of Chicago)

Abstract

This paper monetizes the life-cycle intragenerational and intergenerational benefits of the Perry Preschool Project, a pioneering high-quality early childhood education program implemented before Head Start that targeted disadvantaged African-Americans and was evaluated by a randomized trial. It has the longest follow-up of any experimentally evaluated early childhood education program. We follow participants into late midlife as well as their children into adulthood. Impacts on the original participants and their children generate substantial benefits. Access to life-cycle data enables us to evaluate the accuracy of widely used schemes to forecast life-cycle benefits from early-life test scores, which we find wanting.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Luis Garcia & Frederik Bennhoff & Duncan Ermini Leaf & James J. Heckman, 2021. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education," Working Papers 2021-033, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-033
    Note: ECI
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Garcia_Bennhoff_Leaf_etal_2021_dynastic-benefits-early-childhood-education.pdf
    File Function: First version, June 30, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rong Hai & James Heckman, 2017. "Inequality in Human Capital and Endogenous Credit Constraints," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 25, pages 4-36, April.
    2. David Deming, 2009. "Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 111-134, July.
    3. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    4. James J. Heckman & Ganesh Karapakula, 2019. "The Perry Preschoolers at Late Midlife: A Study in Design-Specific Inference," Working Papers 2019-034, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. Hunt, Priscillia Evelyne & Saunders, Jessica & Kilmer, Beau, 2019. "Estimates of Law Enforcement Costs by Crime Type for Benefit-Cost Analyses," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 95-123, April.
    6. Patrick Kline & Christopher R. Walters, 2016. "Evaluating Public Programs with Close Substitutes: The Case of HeadStart," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1795-1848.
    7. Robert A. Moffitt, 2016. "Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 2," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number moff-3.
    8. J. Hirshleifer, 1958. "On the Theory of Optimal Investment Decision," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 329-329.
    9. Duncan Ermini Leaf & Bryan Tysinger & Dana P. Goldman & Darius N. Lakdawalla, 2021. "Predicting quantity and quality of life with the Future Elderly Model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(S1), pages 52-79, November.
    10. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 307-458, Elsevier.
    11. Guthrie Gray-Lobe & Parag A Pathak & Christopher R Walters, 2023. "The Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool in Boston," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(1), pages 363-411.
    12. James Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev, 2013. "Understanding the Mechanisms through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2052-2086, October.
    13. Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2021. "Early Childhood Education in the United States: What, When, Where, Who, How, and Why," NBER Working Papers 28722, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Congressional Budget Office, 2018. "How CBO Produces Fair-Value Estimates of the Cost of Federal Credit Programs: A Primer," Reports 53886, Congressional Budget Office.
    15. Eric French & Elaine Kelly & Svetlana Pashchenko & Ponpoje Porapakkarm, 2016. "Medical Spending in the US: Facts from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Data Set," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 689-716, September.
    16. Miriam Bruhn & David McKenzie, 2009. "In Pursuit of Balance: Randomization in Practice in Development Field Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 200-232, October.
    17. Martin Feldstein, 1999. "Tax Avoidance And The Deadweight Loss Of The Income Tax," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 674-680, November.
    18. Tarjei Havnes & Magne Mogstad, 2011. "No Child Left Behind: Subsidized Child Care and Children's Long-Run Outcomes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 97-129, May.
    19. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie, 2011. "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 153-172, Summer.
    20. Clive R Belfield & Milagros Nores & Steve Barnett & Lawrence Schweinhart, 2006. "The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program: Cost–Benefit Analysis Using Data from the Age-40 Followup," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(1).
    21. Greg J. Duncan & Aaron J. Sojourner, 2013. "Can Intensive Early Childhood Intervention Programs Eliminate Income-Based Cognitive and Achievement Gaps?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 945-968.
    22. Moffitt, Robert A. (ed.), 2016. "Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume I," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226370477.
    23. Rong Hai & James Heckman, 2017. "Inequality in Human Capital and Endogenous Credit Constraints," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 25, pages 4-36, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2022. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 30610, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Feng, Shuaizhang & Gan, Yu & Han, Yujie & Kautz, Tim, 2024. "Shorter can be better: Balancing length and predictive power when measuring noncognitive skills to predict academic outcomes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    3. Jorge Luis Garcia & James J. Heckman & Victor Ronda, 2021. "The Lasting Effects of Early Childhood Education on Promoting the Skills and Social Mobility of Disadvantaged African Americans," Working Papers 2021-037, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    4. Germán Caruso & Inés Marcos & Ilan Noy, 2024. "Climate Changes Affect Human Capital," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 157-196, March.
    5. Alison Andrew & Orazio Attanasio & Britta Augsburg & Lina Cardona-Sosa & Monimalika Day & Michele Giannola & Sally Grantham-McGregor & Pamela Jervis & Costas Meghir & Marta Rubio-Codina, 2024. "Early Childhood Intervention for the Poor: Long Term Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 32165, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. García, Jorge Luis & Heckman, James Joseph, 2022. "Three Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 281-286, October.
    7. Dougan, William & García, Jorge Luis & Polovnikov, Illia, 2023. "High-Quality Early-Childhood Education at Scale: Evidence from a Multisite Randomized Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 16442, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. James J. Heckman & Bridget Galaty & Haihan Tian, 2023. "The Economic Approach to Personality, Character and Virtue," NBER Working Papers 31258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Paul Gertler & James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto & Susan M. Chang & Sally Grantham-McGregor & Christel Vermeersch & Susan Walker & Amika Wright, 2021. "Effect of the Jamaica Early Childhood Stimulation Intervention on Labor Market Outcomes at Age 31," NBER Working Papers 29292, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Frederik H. Bennhoff & Jorge Luis García & Duncan Ermini Leaf, 2024. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early-Childhood Education: Participant Benefits and Family Spillovers," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 44-73.
    11. Gretchen Cusick & Jennifer Gaul-Stout & Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber & Olivia Wilks & Yasmin Grewal-Kök & Clare Anderson, 2024. "A Systematic Review of Economic and Concrete Support to Prevent Child Maltreatment," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, September.
    12. Mette Goertz & Vibeke Myrup Jensen & Sarah Sander, 2023. "Daycare Enrollment Age and Child Development," CEBI working paper series 22-26, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Duncan Ermini Leaf & María José Prados, 2020. "Quantifying the Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early-Childhood Program," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(7), pages 2502-2541.
    2. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Duncan Ermini Leaf & María José Prados, 2017. "Quantifying the Life-cycle Benefits of a Prototypical Early Childhood Program," NBER Working Papers 23479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Duncan Ermini Leaf & María José Prados, 2016. "The Life-cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program," NBER Working Papers 22993, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Elad DeMalach & Analia Schlosser, 2024. "Short- and Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool: Evidence from the Arab Population in Israel," CESifo Working Paper Series 10904, CESifo.
    5. García, Jorge Luis & Heckman, James J. & Ronda, Victor, 2021. "The Lasting Effects of Early Childhood Education on Promoting the Skills and Social Mobility of Disadvantaged African Americans," IZA Discussion Papers 14575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Sneha Elango & Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Andrés Hojman, 2015. "Early Childhood Education," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 2, pages 235-297, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Pierre Lefebvre & Claude Felteau, 2023. "Can universal preschool education intensities counterbalance parental socioeconomic gradients? Repeated international evidence from Fourth graders skills achievement," Working Papers 23-01, Research Group on Human Capital, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    8. Jens Dietrichson & Ida Lykke Kristiansen & Bjørn A. Viinholt, 2020. "Universal Preschool Programs And Long‐Term Child Outcomes: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5), pages 1007-1043, December.
    9. Frederik H. Bennhoff & Jorge Luis García & Duncan Ermini Leaf, 2024. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early-Childhood Education: Participant Benefits and Family Spillovers," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 44-73.
    10. Dougan, William & García, Jorge Luis & Polovnikov, Illia, 2023. "High-Quality Early-Childhood Education at Scale: Evidence from a Multisite Randomized Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 16442, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2021. "Early childhood education and life‐cycle health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(S1), pages 119-141, November.
    12. Michael J. Kottelenberg & Steven F. Lehrer, 2017. "Targeted or Universal Coverage? Assessing Heterogeneity in the Effects of Universal Child Care," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(3), pages 609-653.
    13. Jonas Lau-Jensen Hirani & Hans Henrik Sievertsen & Miriam Wüst & Johannes Wohlfart, 2020. "Missing a Nurse Visit," Discussion Papers 20-09, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    14. Jorge Rodriguez, 2017. "Understanding the Effects of Income and Child Care Subsidies on Children's Academic Achievement," 2017 Papers pro1077, Job Market Papers.
    15. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2022. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 30610, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Ariel Marek Pihl, 2018. "Head Start and Mothers' Work: Free Child Care or Something More?," Working Papers 18-13, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Morabito, Christian & Van de gaer, Dirk & Figueroa, José Luis & Vandenbroeck, Michel, 2018. "Effects of high versus low-quality preschool education: A longitudinal study in Mauritius," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 126-137.
    18. Wang, Lei & Qian, Yiwei & Warrinnier, Nele & Attanasio, Orazio & Rozelle, Scott & Sylvia, Sean, 2023. "Parental investment, school choice, and the persistent benefits of an early childhood intervention," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    19. Samuel Berlinski & Norbert Schady, 2015. "Daycare Services: It’s All about Quality," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Samuel Berlinski & Norbert Schady (ed.), The Early Years, chapter 4, pages 91-119, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan & Sievertsen, Hans Henrik & Wüst, Miriam, 2020. "Missing a Nurse Visit," IZA Discussion Papers 13485, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
      • Miriam Wüst & Jonas Lau-Jensen Hirani & Hans Henrik Sievertsen, 2021. "Missing a Nurse Visit," CEBI working paper series 20-09, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cost-benefit analysis; dynastic benefits; early childhood education; intergenerational program evaluation; life-cycle benefits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-033. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jennifer Pachon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mfichus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.