Working Paper: NBER ID: w29004
Authors: Jorge Luis García; Frederik H. Bennhoff; Duncan Ermini Leaf; James J. Heckman
Abstract: This paper monetizes the life-cycle intragenerational and intergenerational benefits of the Perry Preschool Project, a pioneering high-quality early childhood education program implemented before Head Start that targeted disadvantaged African-Americans and was evaluated by a randomized trial. It has the longest follow-up of any experimentally evaluated early childhood education program. We follow participants into late midlife as well as their children into adulthood. Impacts on the original participants and their children generate substantial benefits. Access to life-cycle data enables us to evaluate the accuracy of widely used schemes to forecast life-cycle benefits from early-life test scores, which we find wanting.
Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Perry Preschool Project; Lifecycle Benefits; Social Mobility
JEL Codes: C93; H43; I28; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Increased education levels (I24) |
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Increased earnings (J31) |
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Enhanced cognitive skills (J24) |
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Enhanced non-cognitive skills (J24) |
| Enhanced cognitive skills (J24) | Increased education levels (I24) |
| Enhanced non-cognitive skills (J24) | Increased earnings (J31) |
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Lower crime rates (K14) |
| Increased education levels (I24) | Increased earnings (J31) |
| Participation in PPP (H44) | Intergenerational benefits to adult children (D15) |