Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Costs of Daycare 0–2 for Girls

Margherita Fort, Andrea Ichino and Giulio Zanella

No 9756, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Exploiting admission thresholds in a Regression Discontinuity Design, we study the causal effects of daycare at age 0–2 on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes at age 8–14. One additional month in daycare reduces IQ by 0.5% (4.5% of a standard deviation). Effects for conscientiousness are small and imprecisely estimated. Psychologists suggest that children in daycare experience fewer one-to-one interactions with adults, which should be particularly relevant for girls who are more capable than boys of exploiting cognitive stimuli at an early age. In line with this interpretation, losses for girls are larger and more significant, especially in affluent families.

Keywords: daycare; childcare; child development; cognitive skills; non-cognitive skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I20 I28 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2016-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published - revised version published in: Journal of Political Economy, 2020, 128(1), 158-205

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Working Paper: Cognitive and non-cognitive costs of daycare 0 2 for girls (2016)
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