IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/31555.html

The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education: Participant Benefits and Family Spillovers

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Luis García
  • Frederik H. Bennhoff
  • Duncan Ermini Leaf

Abstract

We demonstrate the social efficiency of investing in high-quality early childhood education using newly collected data from the HighScope Perry Preschool Project. The data analyzed are the longest follow-up of any randomized early childhood education program. Annual observations of participant outcomes up to midlife allow us to provide a cost-benefit analysis without relying on forecasts. Adult outcomes on the participants' children and siblings allow us to quantify spillover benefits. The program generates a benefit-cost ratio of 6.0 (p-value = 0.03). Spillover benefits increase this ratio to 7.5 (p-value = 0.00).

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Luis García & Frederik H. Bennhoff & Duncan Ermini Leaf, 2023. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education: Participant Benefits and Family Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 31555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31555
    Note: CH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w31555.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2014. "The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 689-733, August.
    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. Isaac Ehrlich & Yun Pei, 2020. "Human Capital as Engine of Growth: The Role of Knowledge Transfers in Promoting Balanced Growth within and across Countries," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(2), pages 225-263, September.
    4. Maya Rossin-Slater & Miriam Wüst, 2020. "What Is the Added Value of Preschool for Poor Children? Long-Term and Intergenerational Impacts and Interactions with an Infant Health Intervention," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 255-286, July.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Jessica Pan, 2013. "The Trouble with Boys: Social Influences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 32-64, January.
    6. Eliana Garces & Duncan Thomas & Janet Currie, 2002. "Longer-Term Effects of Head Start," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 999-1012, September.
    7. Martha J. Bailey & Shuqiao Sun & Brenden Timpe, 2021. "Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 3963-4001, December.
    8. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Isaac Ehrlich & Yong Yin, 2013. "Equilibrium Health Spending and Population Aging in a Model of Endogenous Growth: Will the GDP Share of Health Spending Keep Rising?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 411-447.
    12. Pedro Carneiro & Rita Ginja, 2014. "Long-Term Impacts of Compensatory Preschool on Health and Behavior: Evidence from Head Start," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 135-173, November.
    13. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Victor Ronda, 2023. "The Lasting Effects of Early-Childhood Education on Promoting the Skills and Social Mobility of Disadvantaged African Americans and Their Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(6), pages 1477-1506.
    14. Michael Baker & Jonathan Gruber & Kevin Milligan, 2008. "Universal Child Care, Maternal Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 709-745, August.
    15. Clive R. Belfield & Milagros Nores & Steve Barnett & Lawrence Schweinhart, 2021. "Corrigendum to “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. 56(3), pages 969-969.
    16. Andrew Barr & Chloe R. Gibbs, 2022. "Breaking the Cycle? Intergenerational Effects of an Antipoverty Program in Early Childhood," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(12), pages 3253-3285.
    17. Rob Grunewald & Arthur J. Rolnick, 2003. "Early childhood development = economic development," Fedgazette, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 15(Mar), pages 1-14.
    18. Monique De Haan & Edwin Leuven, 2020. "Head Start and the Distribution of Long-Term Education and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(3), pages 727-765.
    19. Jens Ludwig & Douglas L. Miller, 2007. "Does Head Start Improve Children's Life Chances? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 159-208.
    20. 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.
    21. García, Jorge Luis & Heckman, James J. & Ziff, Anna L., 2018. "Gender differences in the benefits of an influential early childhood program," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 9-22.
    22. David S. Lee, 2009. "Training, Wages, and Sample Selection: Estimating Sharp Bounds on Treatment Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1071-1102.
    23. David Autor & David Figlio & Krzysztof Karbownik & Jeffrey Roth & Melanie Wasserman, 2019. "Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 338-381, July.
    24. Casey B. Mulligan & Yona Rubinstein, 2008. "Selection, Investment, and Women's Relative Wages Over Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1061-1110.
    25. 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.
    26. 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.
    27. Blackburn, McKinley L & Neumark, David, 1993. "Omitted-Ability Bias and the Increase in the Return to Schooling," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(3), pages 521-544, July.
    28. Gelber, Alexander & Isen, Adam, 2013. "Children's schooling and parents' behavior: Evidence from the Head Start Impact Study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 25-38.
    29. Michael Baker & Jonathan Gruber & Kevin Milligan, 2015. "Non-Cognitive Deficits and Young Adult Outcomes: The Long-Run Impacts of a Universal Child Care Program," NBER Working Papers 21571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. 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.
    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. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gallegos, Sebastián & García, Jorge Luis, 2024. "Childcare and parenting in the production of early life skills," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Alison W. Baulos & Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2024. "Perry Preschool at 50: What Lessons Should Be Drawn and Which Criticisms Ignored?," NBER Working Papers 32972, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Jorge Luis Garcia & James J. Heckman, 2024. ""Unsettled Science on Longer-run Effects of Early Education:" A Response," Working Papers 2024-012, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. de Vries, Sander & Ketel, Nadine & Lindeboom, Maarten, 2024. "From Parents' Cradle to Children's Career: Intergenerational Effects of Parental Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 17570, IZA Network @ LISER.

    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. 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, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. 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.
    3. Holla,Alaka & Bendini,Maria Magdalena & Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana & Trako,Iva, 2021. "Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low ? Lessons from (Quasi) ExperimentalEvidence across Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9723, The World Bank.
    4. Mariana Zerpa, 2025. "Short- and medium-run impacts of preschool education: evidence from state pre-K programs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(3), pages 1-39, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Akabayashi, Hideo & Ruberg, Tim & Shikishima, Chizuru & Yamashita, Jun, 2023. "Education-oriented and care-oriented preschools: Implications on child development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Pihl, Ariel Marek, 2022. "Head Start and mothers’ work: Free child care or something more?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    8. Maya Rossin-Slater & Adrienne Sabety & Aileen Wu, 2026. "The Impact of Preschool Entry Age on Children’s Behavioral and Developmental Health in Medicaid," NBER Working Papers 34677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. 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.
    10. Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan & Sievertsen, Hans Henrik & Wüst, Miriam, 2020. "Missing a Nurse Visit," IZA Discussion Papers 13485, IZA Network @ LISER.
      • 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).
    11. Rossin-Slater, Maya & Wüst, Miriam, 2016. "What is the Added Value of Preschool? Long-Term Impacts and Interactions with a Health Intervention," IZA Discussion Papers 10254, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Lindsey Lacey, 2023. "The physical and mental health returns of Head Start 25 years after participation: Evidence from income eligibility cutoffs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 870-890, October.
    13. Maya Rossin-Slater & Miriam Wüst, 2016. "What is the Added Value of Preschool for Poor Children? Long-Term and Intergenerational Impacts and Interactions with an Infant Health Intervention," NBER Working Papers 22700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Berkes, Jan & Bouguen, Adrien & Filmer, Deon & Fukao, Tsuyoshi, 2024. "Improving preschool provision and encouraging-demand: Evidence from a large-scale construction program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    15. William R. Dougan & Jorge Luis García & Illia Polovnikov, 2023. "High-Quality Early-Childhood Education at Scale: Evidence from a Multisite Randomized Trial," NBER Working Papers 31694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Randall Akee & Leah R. Clark, 2023. "Universal Preschool Lottery Admissions and Its Effects on Long-Run Earnings and Outcomes," Working Papers 23-09, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. García, Jorge Luis & Bennhoff, Frederik H. & Leaf, Duncan Ermini & Heckman, James J., 2021. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14525, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2023. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 15(1), pages 349-388, September.
    19. 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.
    20. Kautz, Tim & Heckman, James J. & Diris, Ron & ter Weel, Bas & Borghans, Lex, 2014. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success," IZA Discussion Papers 8696, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    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:nbr:nberwo:31555. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.