Working Paper: NBER ID: w22112
Authors: Ofer Malamud; Cristian Popeleches; Miguel Urquiola
Abstract: This paper explores whether conditions during early childhood affect the productivity of later human capital investments. We use Romanian administrative data to ask if the benefit of access to better schools is larger for children who experienced better family environments because their parents had access to abortion. We combine regression discontinuity and differences-in-differences designs to estimate impacts on a high-stakes school-leaving exam. Although we find that access to abortion and access to better schools each have positive impacts, we do not find evidence of significant interactions between these shocks. While these results suggest the absence of dynamic complementarities in human capital formation, survey data suggest that they may also reflect behavioral responses by students and parents.
Keywords: human capital; abortion access; educational outcomes; dynamic complementarities
JEL Codes: I00
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Access to abortion and better schools (I24) | Dynamic complementarities (D10) |
| Access to abortion (J13) | Educational achievement (I24) |
| Access to abortion (J13) | Higher transition scores (P27) |
| Access to abortion (J13) | Likelihood of attending better schools (I24) |
| Access to better schools (I24) | Improved educational outcomes (I24) |
| Access to better schools (I24) | Higher baccalaureate scores (I23) |
| Access to better schools (I24) | Educational quality (I21) |