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Poor Little Children: The Socioeconomic Gap in Parental Responses to School Disadvantage

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  • Berniell, Inés
  • Estrada, Ricardo

Abstract

In this paper, we study how parents react to a widely-used school policy that puts some children at a learning disadvantage. Specifically, we first document that, in line with findings in other countries, younger children in Spain perform significantly worse at school than their older peers and – key to causal interpretation – that for children born in winter this effect is not due to birth seasonality. Furthermore, the age of school entry effect is significantly greater among children from disadvantaged families. To understand why, we analyze detailed data on parental investment and find that college-educated parents increase their time investment and choose schools with better inputs when their children are the youngest at school entry, while non-college-educated parents do not.

Suggested Citation

  • Berniell, Inés & Estrada, Ricardo, 2017. "Poor Little Children: The Socioeconomic Gap in Parental Responses to School Disadvantage," Research Department working papers 1112, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    • Handle: RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1112
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    Cited by:

    1. Caterina Calsamiglia & Annalisa Loviglio, 2020. "Maturity and school outcomes in an inflexible system: evidence from Catalonia," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-49, March.
    2. Nora Lustig & Valentina Martinez Pabon & Guido Neidhöfer & Mariano Tommasi, 2020. "Short and Long-Run Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in Latin America," Working Papers 2013, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    3. Cristina Borra & Libertad González Luna & David Patiño, 2021. "Maternal age and infant health," Economics Working Papers 1791, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    4. Berniell, Lucila & Caccianini, Antonella & Sanguinetti, Ignacio, . "Digitalizacio\x{0301}n de las licencias me\x{0301}dicas en el sistema educativo pu\x{0301}blico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires: Modernizacio\x{0301}n del Estado para una mejor educacio\x{0301}n," Books, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica, number 1548.
    5. Zhao, Yuejun & Markussen, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2024. "School Starting Age and the Social Gradient in Educational Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 16851, IZA Network @ LISER.
    6. Cristina Lopez-Mayan & Giulia Montresor & Catia Nicodemo, 2024. "“School Entry Age Policy and Adolescent Risk–Taking”," AQR Working Papers 202408, University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group, revised Dec 2024.
    7. Cristina Borra & Libertad González & David Patiño, 2024. "Mothers' school starting age and infant health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1153-1191, June.
    8. Borra, Cristina & González, Libertad & Patiño, David, 2023. "School Starting Age and Infant Health," IZA Discussion Papers 16676, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Sergi Sánchez-Coll, 2023. "Born this way: the effect of an unexpected child benefit at birth on longer-term educational outcomes," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 105-141, March.
    10. Ismael Sanz & J .D. Tenaa, 2020. "A Natural Experiment on the Effect of Instruction Time and Quality: Lessons for the Covid-19 Outbreak," Working Papers 202032, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    11. Jung, Hoyong, 2025. "Freed students, unsatisfied parents: Evidence from the Free Semester Program in South Korea," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Cavallo, Mariagrazia & Dhuey, Elizabeth & Fumarco, Luca & Halewyck, Levi & ter Meulen, Simon, 2026. "The Economics of Age at School Entry: Insights from Evidence and Methods," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1707, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Chang, Simon & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Salamanca, Nicolás, 2022. "Parents’ responses to teacher qualifications," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 419-446.

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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