Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10688
Authors: Emilia Del Bono; Marco Francesconi; Yvonne Kelly; Amanda Sacker
Abstract: Using large longitudinal survey data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, this paper estimates the relationship between maternal time inputs and early child development. We find that maternal time is a quantitatively important determinant of skill formation and that its effect declines with child age. There is evidence of long-term effects of early maternal time inputs on later outcomes, especially in the case of cognitive skill development. In the case of non-cognitive development, the evidence of this long-term impact disappears when we account for skill persistence.
Keywords: Cognitive and noncognitive skill formation; Early interventions; Education production functions
JEL Codes: I20; J15; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| maternal time inputs (J22) | cognitive skill development (I25) |
| maternal time inputs (J22) | noncognitive skill development (I25) |
| maternal time inputs (age 3) (J22) | cognitive achievement (D29) |
| maternal time inputs (age 7) (J22) | cognitive achievement (D29) |
| early maternal time investments (J13) | productivity of cognitive skills (J24) |
| lagged scores (C29) | noncognitive skills (G53) |
| early maternal time inputs (J22) | long-term impact on cognitive development (I25) |
| early maternal time inputs (J22) | emotional skills (G53) |