Working Paper: NBER ID: w22700
Authors: Maya Rossin-Slater; Miriam Wüst
Abstract: We study the impact of preschool targeted at children from low-income families over the life cycle and across generations, and examine its interaction with an infant health intervention. Using Danish administrative data with variation in the timing of program implementation over 1933-1960, we find lasting benefits of access to preschool on adult educational attainment, earnings, and survival beyond age 65. We also show that children of women exposed to preschool obtain more education by age 25. However, exposure to nurse home visiting in infancy reduces the added value of preschool. This result implies that the programs serve as partial substitutes.
Keywords: preschool; low-income families; human capital; intergenerational effects; health intervention
JEL Codes: H51; H53; I18; I3; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Access to government-approved preschool by age 3 (I21) | Increase in summary human capital index (J24) |
| Access to government-approved preschool by age 3 (I21) | Increase in average years of schooling (I21) |
| Access to government-approved preschool by age 3 (I21) | Increase in likelihood of obtaining more than compulsory education (I21) |
| Access to government-approved preschool by age 3 (I21) | Higher average wage income from ages 30 to 60 (J31) |
| Access to government-approved preschool by age 3 (I21) | Increase in likelihood of survival beyond age 65 (I14) |
| Access to preschool (I24) | Increase in likelihood of children completing more than compulsory education by age 25 (I21) |
| Access to preschool (I24) | Reduction in positive impact of preschool on human capital index due to NHV exposure (I15) |