Froebel's Gifts: How the Kindergarten Movement Changed the American Familiy

Philipp Ager and Francesco Cinnirella

No 8504, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Nineteenth-century social reformers promoted the establishment of kindergartens as a remedy for the problems associated with industrialization and immigration. We evaluate the impact that the rollout of the first kindergartens in American cities had on mothers and their children. Consistent with the predictions of a quantity-quality trade-off model, immigrant families exposed to kindergartens significantly reduced fertility. Their offspring at age 10-15 were more likely to attend school, they worked less, and as adults, they had fewer children. We also unveil positive language spillover effects of kindergarten education on immigrant mothers illustrating the importance of kindergartens for social integration.

Keywords: kindergarten education; fertility transition; child labor; school attendance; quantity-quality trade-off (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J13 N31 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Froebel’s Gifts: How the Kindergarten Movement Changed the American Family (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8504

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