Do Investments in Universal Early Education Pay Off? Long-term Effects of Introducing Kindergartens into Public Schools

Elizabeth Cascio

No 14951, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In the 1960s and 1970s, many states introduced grants for school districts offering kindergarten programs. This paper exploits the staggered timing of these initiatives to estimate the long-term effects of a large public investment in universal early education. I find that white children aged five after the typical state reform were less likely to be high school dropouts and had lower institutionalization rates as adults. I rule out similar positive effects for blacks, despite comparable increases in their enrollment in public kindergartens in response to the initiatives. The explanation for this finding that receives most empirical support is that state funding for kindergarten crowded out participation in federally-funded early education among the poorest five year olds.

JEL-codes: H75 I28 J15 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ure
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