Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling Reform on Early Childhood Development in a Middle-Income Country

Yusuf Emre Akgündüz (), Pelin Akyol, Abdurrahman Aydemir, Murat Demirci () and Murat Güray Kirdar ()
Additional contact information
Yusuf Emre Akgündüz: Sabanci University
Murat Demirci: Koc University
Murat Güray Kirdar: Bogazici University

No 17249, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the intergenerational effects of the 1997 compulsory schooling reform in Turkey, which extended compulsory schooling from five to eight years, on the developmental outcomes of children aged 36 to 59 months. We draw upon data from the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey, which features a comprehensive module on early childhood development (ECD), and estimate the impact of mothers' exposure to education reform using RDD. Our analysis reveals a significant increase in maternal educational attainment and corresponding enhancements in children's readiness to learn. Exploring the underlying mechanisms, we find a notable expansion in the number and variety of activities parents, especially fathers, engage in with their children. In a further examination of parental outcomes, we find evidence pointing to narrower educational and age disparities between partners, suggesting an improvement in mothers' agency—aligned with the heightened engagement of fathers with their children. Despite the typical emphasis on mothers in ECD research, our study indicates a significant enhancement in fathers' involvement with their children accompanied by improvement in children's cognitive outcomes.

Keywords: compulsory education; early child development; parental investment; mother's agency; cognitive skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I26 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 75 pages
Date: 2024-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-hea, nep-ipr, nep-neu and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp17249.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17249

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().