The Life-cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program

Jorge Luis Garcia (jlgarcia@tamu.edu), James Heckman, Duncan Ermini Leaf and María José Prados

No 22993, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper estimates the long-term benefits from an influential early childhood program targeting disadvantaged families. The program was evaluated by random assignment and followed participants through their mid-30s. It has substantial beneficial impacts on health, children's future labor incomes, crime, education, and mothers' labor incomes, with greater monetized benefits for males. Lifetime returns are estimated by pooling multiple data sets using testable economic models. The overall rate of return is 13.7% per annum, and the benefit/cost ratio is 7.3. These estimates are robust to numerous sensitivity analyses.

JEL-codes: C93 I28 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-ure
Note: CH ED
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Published as Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman & Duncan Ermini Leaf & María José Prados, 2020. "Quantifying the Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early-Childhood Program," Journal of Political Economy, vol 128(7), pages 2502-2541.

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Working Paper: The Life-cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program (2016)
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