Early Skill Gap Effects on Long-Run Outcomes and Parental Investments

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Peer Reviewed icon Peer Reviewed
Date issued
Jan 2020
Subject
Educational Attainment;
Early Childhood Education;
Skills;
Labor Market;
Parental Investment;
Child Development
JEL code
I21 - Analysis of Education;
J24 - Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity;
I28 - Government Policy
Country
Chile
Category
Working Papers
This paper examines the effects of skill advantages at age six on different types of parental investments, and long-run outcomes up to age 27. We exploit exogenous variation in skills due to school entry rules, combining 20 years of Chilean administrative records with a regression discontinuity design. Our results show higher in-school performance and college entrance scores, and sizable effects on college attendance and enrollment at more selective institutions, in particular for low-income children. Our findings suggest that parental time investments are neutral to early skills gaps, while monetary investments are reinforcing and likely to be mediating the long-run effects.
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