Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment

Marco Castillo, John List, Ragan Petrie and Anya Samek

Journal of Political Economy, 2024, vol. 132, issue 12, 3942 - 3977

Abstract: We investigate how skills developed when children are 3–5 years old drive schooling outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence. We find that skills map onto three distinct factors—cognitive skills, executive functions, and economic preferences. Importantly, each of the three factors predict later schooling outcomes. While early executive function skills and cognitive scores are linked to future behavioral patterns and other key student outcomes, economic preferences have an independent effect: children who are impatient in early childhood have more disciplinary referrals. Finally, random assignment to preschool impacts grades and disciplinary referrals through changes to cognitive skills and executive functions.

Date: 2024
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Related works:
Working Paper: Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment (2021)
Working Paper: Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment (2020)
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