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

Marco Castillo, John List, Ragan Petrie and Anya Samek

Artefactual Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: We use field experiments with nearly 900 children to investigate how skills developed at ages 3-5 drive later-life outcomes. We find that skills map onto three distinct factors - cognitive skills, executive functions, and economic preferences. Returning to the children up to 7 years later, we find that executive functions, but not cognitive skills, predict the likelihood of receiving disciplinary referrals. Economic preferences have an independent effect: children who displayed impatience at ages 3-5 were more likely to receive disciplinary referrals. Random assignment to a parenting program reduced disciplinary referrals. This effect was not mediated by skills or preferences.

Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cwa, nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-neu
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Related works:
Journal Article: Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment (2024)
Working Paper: Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:artefa:00723

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