Investing in Health: The Long-Term Impact of Head Start on Smoking

James Foster (), Kathryn H. Anderson () and David Frisvold
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Kathryn H. Anderson: Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University

Working Papers from The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy

Abstract: Head Start is a comprehensive, early childhood development program designed to augment the human capital and health capital levels of disadvantaged children. Evaluations of Head Start have tended to focus on cognitive outcomes; however, there is increasing recognition that other important outcomes can be influenced by participation. This paper evaluates the long term impact of Head Start participation on smoking behavior in young adulthood by comparing the behavior of adults who attended Head Start with those of siblings who did not. We find that participation in Head Start reduces the probability that an individual smokes cigarettes as a young adult.

Keywords: Head Start; early childhood education; health; smoking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I28 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-04
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Published in Economic Inquiry, Vol. 48, No. 3, July 2010, 587-602

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http://www.gwu.edu/~iiep/assets/docs/papers/Foster_IIEPWP2010-25.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: INVESTING IN HEALTH: THE LONG‐TERM IMPACT OF HEAD START ON SMOKING (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2010-25

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