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The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit: Comment*

* This paper is a replication of an original study

Author

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  • Samuel Lundstrom

Abstract

In a recent article in the American Economic Review, Dahl and Lochner (2012) use changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit to estimate the causal effect of family income on child achievement. Their instrumental variable (IV) estimates imply that a $1,000 increase in income raises combined math and reading test scores by about 6 percent of a standard deviation. I document a variable coding error. Correcting this error reduces the IV estimates by 32 percent; correcting this error does not change the qualitative conclusions of the study.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Lundstrom, 2017. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 623-628, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:2:p:623-28
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150988
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordon B. Dahl & Lance Lochner, 2012. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1927-1956, August.
    2. Gruber, Jon & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "The elasticity of taxable income: evidence and implications," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-32, April.
    3. Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe, 1995. "The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1829-1878, December.
    4. Martin Feldstein, 1995. "Behavioral Responses to Tax Rates: Evidence from TRA86," NBER Working Papers 5000, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Daniel Feenberg & Elisabeth Coutts, 1993. "An introduction to the TAXSIM model," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(1), pages 189-194.
    6. Currie, Janet & Gruber, Jonathan, 1996. "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1263-1296, December.
    7. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "Behavioral Responses to Tax Rates: Evidence from the Tax Reform Act of 1986," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 170-174, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Berlinski & Maria Marta Ferreyra & Luca Flabbi & Juan David Martin, 2020. "Child Care Markets, Parental Labor Supply, and Child Development," CHILD Working Papers Series 73 JEL Classification:, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    2. John Guyton & Kara Leibel & Day Manoli & Ankur Patel & Mark Payne & Brenda Schafer, 2023. "The Effects of EITC Correspondence Audits on Low-Income Earners," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gordon B. Dahl & Lance Lochner, 2017. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 629-631, February.
    4. Francesco Agostinelli & Giuseppe Sorrenti, 2018. "Money vs. Time: Family Income, Maternal Labor Supply, and Child Development," Working Papers 2018-017, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

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    Replication

    This item is a replication of:
  • Gordon B. Dahl & Lance Lochner, 2012. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1927-1956, August.

    • More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    Lists

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    1. The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit: Comment (AER 2017) in ReplicationWiki

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