IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/max/cprwps/53.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Public Expenditures Improve Child Outcomes in the U.S.? A Comparison across Fifty States

Author

Listed:
  • Kristen Harknett
  • Irwin Garfinkel
  • Jay Bainbridge
  • Timothy Smeeding
  • Nancy Folbre
  • Sara McLanahan

Abstract

Our paper utilizes variation across the 50 U.S. states to examine the relationship between public expenditures on children and child outcomes. We find that public expenditures on children are related to better child outcomes across a wide range of indicators, including measures of child mortality, elementary-school test scores, and adolescent behavioral outcomes. States that spend more on children have better child outcomes even after taking into account potential confounding influences. Our results are robust to numerous variations in model specifications and to the inclusion of proxies for unobserved characteristics of states. Our sensitivity analyses suggest that the results we present may be conservative, yet our findings show that public investments in children yield broad short-term returns in the form of improved child outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristen Harknett & Irwin Garfinkel & Jay Bainbridge & Timothy Smeeding & Nancy Folbre & Sara McLanahan, 2003. "Do Public Expenditures Improve Child Outcomes in the U.S.? A Comparison across Fifty States," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 53, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    • Handle: RePEc:max:cprwps:53
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/109/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shelley Phipps, 1999. "The Well-Being of Young Canadian Children in International Perspective," LIS Working papers 197, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Caroline Minter Hoxby, 2003. "School Choice and School Productivity. Could School Choice Be a Tide that Lifts All Boats?," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of School Choice, pages 287-342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Eric A. Hanushek & Julie A. Somers, 1999. "Schooling, Inequality, and the Impact of Government," NBER Working Papers 7450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Rebecca M. Blank & Maria J. Hanratty, 1993. "Responding to Need: A Comparison of Social Safety Nets in Canada and the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States, pages 191-232, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Kristine A. Lykens & Paul A. Jargowsky, 2002. "Medicaid matters: children's health and medicaid eligibility expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 219-238.
    6. Bruce Bradbury & Markus Jantti, 1999. "Child Poverty across Industrialized Nations," Papers iopeps99/70, Innocenti Occasional Papers, Economic Policy Series.
    7. Card, David & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1993. "Small Differences That Matter," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226092836, Febrero.
    8. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    9. John S. Akin & Irwin Garfinkel, 1977. "School Expenditures and the Economic Returns to Schooling," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(4), pages 460-481.
    10. Eric A. Hanushek, 2001. "Black-White Achievement Differences and Governmental Interventions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 24-28, May.
    11. Krueger, Alan B & Whitmore, Diane M, 2001. "The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-Test Taking and Middle School Test Results: Evidence from Project STAR," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(468), pages 1-28, January.
    12. Shelley Phipps, 1999. "What is the Best Mix of Policies for Canadas Children?: An International Comparison of Policies and Outcomes for Young Children," LIS Working papers 201, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    13. Hanushek, Eric A. & Luque, Javier A., 2003. "Efficiency and equity in schools around the world," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 481-502, October.
    14. 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.
    15. Marcia K. Meyers & Janet C. Gornick & Laura R. Peck, 2001. "Packaging Support for Low-Income Families: Policy Variation across the United States," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 457-483.
    16. Lane Kenworthy, 1998. "Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment," LIS Working papers 188, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    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. Mayer, Susan E. & Lopoo, Leonard M., 2008. "Government spending and intergenerational mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 139-158, February.

    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. Kristen Harknett & Irwin Garfinkel & Jay Bainbridge & Timothy Smeeding & Nancy Folbre, 2003. "Do Public Expenditures Improve Child Outcomes In the U.S.: A Comparison Across Fifty States," Working Papers 958, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    2. repec:pri:crcwel:wp03-02-harknett is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Robert G. Valletta, 2004. "The ins and outs of poverty in advanced economies: poverty dynamics in Canada, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States," Working Paper Series 2004-18, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    4. Wo[ss]mann, Ludger & West, Martin, 2006. "Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-grade variation in TIMSS," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 695-736, April.
    5. Barrow, Lisa & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 2004. "Using market valuation to assess public school spending," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1747-1769, August.
    6. Giacomo De Giorgi & Michele Pellizzari & William Gui Woolston, 2012. "Class Size And Class Heterogeneity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 795-830, August.
    7. M. C. Navarro-Perez & J. M. Serrano-Sanz, 2002. "Evaluating Educational Output: An Estimation Method Based on Cross-Section Data," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 71-95.
    8. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2005. "Targeted Remedial Education for Underperforming Teenagers: Costs and Benefits," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(4), pages 839-874, October.
    9. Orazem, Peter F. & King, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 55, pages 3475-3559, Elsevier.
    10. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    11. Nicole Schneeweis & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2008. "Peer effects in Austrian schools," Studies in Empirical Economics, in: Christian Dustmann & Bernd Fitzenberger & Stephen Machin (ed.), The Economics of Education and Training, pages 133-155, Springer.
    12. Barrios-Fernández, Andrés & Bovini, Giulia, 2021. "It’s time to learn: School institutions and returns to instruction time," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    14. Nicole Schneeweis, 2011. "Educational institutions and the integration of migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 1281-1308, October.
    15. Maria De Paola & Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2013. "Class size effects on student achievement: heterogeneity across abilities and fields," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 135-153, March.
    16. Barbara M. Fraumeni & Marshall B. Reinsdorf & Brooks B. Robinson & Matthew P. Williams, 2008. "Price and Real Output Measures for the Education Function of Government: Exploratory Estimates for Primary & Secondary Education," NBER Working Papers 14099, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Eric A. Hanushek & Margaret E. Raymond, 2005. "Does school accountability lead to improved student performance?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 297-327.
    18. Steven N. Durlauf & Ananth Seshadri, 2018. "Understanding the Great Gatsby Curve," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 333-393.
    19. Hægeland, Torbjørn & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2012. "Pennies from heaven? Using exogenous tax variation to identify effects of school resources on pupil achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 601-614.
    20. Ethan J. Schmick & Allison Shertzer, 2019. "The Impact of Early Investments in Urban School Systems in the United States," NBER Working Papers 25663, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Eva Crespo-Cebada & Francisco Pedraja-Chaparro & Daniel Santín, 2014. "Does school ownership matter? An unbiased efficiency comparison for regions of Spain," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 153-172, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    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:max:cprwps:53. 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: Margaret Austin or Zia Jackson or Katrina Fiacchi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cpsyrus.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.