Kindergarten for All: Long Run Effects of a Universal Intervention

Nina Drange (), Tarjei Havnes () and Astrid M. J. Sandsør ()
Additional contact information
Nina Drange: Statistics Norway
Tarjei Havnes: Norwegian Ministry of Finance
Astrid M. J. Sandsør: University of Oslo

No 6986, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Theory and evidence point towards particularly positive effects of high-quality child care for disadvantaged children. At the same time, disadvantaged families often sort out of existing programs. To counter differences in learning outcomes between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, European governments are pushing for universal child care. However, evidence on the effects of universal programs is scarce. We provide evidence on the long-run effect on schooling of mandating kindergarten at age 5–6. Our identifying variation comes from a reform that lowered school starting-age from 7 to 6 in Norway in 1997. Our precise DD estimates reveal hardly any effect, both overall, across subsamples, and over the grading distribution. A battery of specification checks support our empirical strategy.

Keywords: child care; difference-in-differences; distributional effects; early childhood intervention; kindergarten; child development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H40 I28 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published - published in Economics of Education Review, 2016, 53, 164-181

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Related works:
Journal Article: Kindergarten for all: Long run effects of a universal intervention (2016)
Working Paper: Kindergarten for All: Long-run Effects of a Universal Intervention (2015)
Working Paper: Kindergarten for all: Long run effects of a universal intervention (2012)
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