Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency

Martha Bailey, Shuqiao Sun and Brenden Timpe

American Economic Review, 2021, vol. 111, issue 12, 3963-4001

Abstract: This paper evaluates the long-run effects of Head Start using large-scale, restricted administrative data. Using the county roll-out of Head Start between 1965 and 1980 and age-eligibility cutoffs for school entry, we find that Head Start generated large increases in adult human capital and economic self-sufficiency, including a 0.65-year increase in schooling, a 2.7 percent increase in high school completion, an 8.5 percent increase in college enrollment, and a 39 percent increase in college completion. These estimates imply sizable, long-term returns to investments in means-tested, public preschool programs.

JEL-codes: I21 I26 I28 I38 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

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Working Paper: Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency (2021)
Working Paper: Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency (2020)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181801

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