Starting Strong: Medium- and Longer-run Benefits of Mexico's Universal Preschool Mandate

Jere Behrman, Ricardo Gomez-Carrera, Susan Parker (), Petra Todd and Weilong Zhang
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Jere Behrman: University of Pennsylvania
Ricardo Gomez-Carrera: World Inequality Lab
Weilong Zhang: University of Cambridge

PIER Working Paper Archive from Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract: In the last two decades, a number of Latin American countries expanded preschool availability and made attendance compulsory. In 2002, Mexico launched a reform that mandated three years of preschool before entering primary school, gradually phasing in the requirement. Using nationwide longitudinal administrative educational data, household survey data, and a quasi-experimental regression-discontinuity approach, this paper investigates the medium and longer-term impacts of the mandate. Results show that the preschool mandate enhanced fifth- and sixth-grade math and Spanish scores, improved noncognitive skills, heightened student engagement, reduced failure rates, and led to greater schooling attainment for young adults nearly 20 years post-reform.

Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2024-10-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ure
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