The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education

Jorge Luis García (), Frederik Bennhoff, Duncan Ermini Leaf () and James Heckman
Additional contact information
Jorge Luis García: Texas A&M University
Duncan Ermini Leaf: University of Southern California

No 14525, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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: cost-benefit analysis; dynastic benefits; early childhood education; intergenerational program evaluation; life-cycle benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 H43 I28 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-exp and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education (2021)
Working Paper: The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education (2021)
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