Working Paper: NBER ID: w28288
Authors: Marco Castillo; John A. List; Ragan Petrie; Anya Samek
Abstract: We use field experiments with nearly 900 children to investigate how skills developed at ages 3-5 drive later-life outcomes. We find that skills map onto three distinct factors - cognitive skills, executive functions, and economic preferences. Returning to the children up to 7 years later, we find that executive functions, but not cognitive skills, predict the likelihood of receiving disciplinary referrals. Economic preferences have an independent effect: children who displayed impatience at ages 3-5 were more likely to receive disciplinary referrals. Random assignment to a parenting program reduced disciplinary referrals. This effect was not mediated by skills or preferences.
Keywords: early childhood; executive functions; economic preferences; disciplinary referrals
JEL Codes: C91; C93; D12; D81; I21; I26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| early life skills (J24) | disciplinary referrals (Y80) |
| economic preferences (D11) | disciplinary referrals (Y80) |
| executive functions (D87) | disciplinary referrals (Y80) |
| economic preferences (D11) | disciplinary referrals (Y80) |
| CHECC program (C87) | disciplinary referrals (Y80) |