Working Paper: NBER ID: w30610
Authors: jorge luis garca; james j heckman
Abstract: This paper compares early childhood enrichment programs that promote social mobility for disadvantaged children within and across generations. Instead of conducting a standard meta-analysis, we present a harmonized primary data analysis of programs that shape current policy. Our analysis is a template for rigorous syntheses and comparisons across programs. We analyze new long-run life-cycle data collected for iconic programs when participants are middle-aged and their children are in their twenties. The iconic programs are omnibus in nature and offer many services to children and their parents. We compare them with relatively low-cost more focused home-visiting programs. Successful interventions target both children and their caregivers. They engage caregivers and improve the home lives of children. They permanently boost cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Participants in programs that enrich home environments grow up with better skills, jobs, earnings, marital stability, and health, as well as reduced participation in crime. Long-run monetized gains are substantially greater than program costs for iconic programs. We investigate the mechanisms promoting successful family lives for participants and find intergenerational effects on their children. A study of focused home-visiting programs that target parents enables us to isolate a crucial component of successful programs: they activate and promote parenting skills of child caregivers. The home-visiting programs we analyze produce outcomes comparable to those of the iconic omnibus programs. National implementation of the programs with long-run follow up that we analyze would substantially shrink the overall US Black-White earnings gap.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: D13; J13; J18; J24; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| early childhood enrichment programs (A21) | improved social mobility outcomes (J62) |
| early childhood enrichment programs (A21) | enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) |
| enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) | better job outcomes (J68) |
| enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) | higher earnings (J31) |
| enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) | increased marital stability (J12) |
| enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) | improved health (I14) |
| enhanced cognitive and noncognitive skills (J24) | reduced criminal behavior (K42) |
| participation in programs that enrich home environments (I24) | permanent boost in skills (J24) |
| permanent boost in skills (J24) | favorable labor market outcomes (J48) |
| permanent boost in skills (J24) | stable family lives (J12) |
| improved parenting skills (J13) | enhanced child development outcomes for the next generation (I25) |
| home-visiting programs (I38) | outcomes comparable to comprehensive programs (I21) |
| national implementation of these programs (H53) | reduce the racial earnings gap in the U.S. (J79) |