Working Paper: NBER ID: w12021
Authors: Matthew Gentzkow; Jesse M. Shapiro
Abstract: We use heterogeneity in the timing of television's introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores later in life. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average test scores by about .02 standard deviations. We are able to reject negative effects larger than about .03 standard deviations per year of television exposure. For reading and general knowledge scores, the positive effects we find are marginally statistically significant, and these effects are largest for children from households where English is not the primary language, for children whose mothers have less than a high school education, and for non-white children. To capture more general effects on human capital, we also study the effect of childhood television exposure on school completion and subsequent labor market earnings, and again find no evidence of a negative effect.
Keywords: television; cognitive development; education; Coleman study; human capital
JEL Codes: I21; J13; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| preschool television exposure (A21) | cognitive development (O11) |
| additional year of preschool television exposure (A21) | average test scores (C12) |
| preschool television exposure (A21) | reading scores (Y10) |
| preschool television exposure (A21) | general knowledge scores (G53) |
| television exposure displaces less educational activities (I24) | cognitive effects (D91) |
| television introduction in the 1940s and 1950s (Y20) | cognitive outcomes of students (I21) |
| preschool television exposure (A21) | school completion (I21) |
| preschool television exposure (A21) | labor market earnings (J31) |