Working Paper: NBER ID: w14945
Authors: Carlos Dobkin; Fernando Ferreira
Abstract: Age based school entry laws force parents and educators to consider an important tradeoff: Though students who are the youngest in their school cohort typically have poorer academic performance, on average, they have slightly higher educational attainment. In this paper we document that for a large cohort of California and Texas natives the school entry laws increased educational attainment of students who enter school early, but also lowered their academic performance while in school. However, we find no evidence that the age at which children enter school effects job market outcomes, such as wages or the probability of employment. This suggests that the net effect on adult labor market outcomes of the increased educational attainment and poorer academic performance is close to zero.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I20; I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Educational Attainment (I21) | Academic Performance (D29) |
| Educational Attainment (I21) | Labor Market Outcomes (J48) |
| School Entry Laws (I28) | Educational Attainment (I21) |
| School Entry Laws (I28) | Academic Performance (D29) |
| School Entry Laws (I28) | Labor Market Outcomes (J48) |