Parents' Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten | NBER

archived 8 Oct 2024 14:17:08 UTC
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Parents' Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten

Working Paper 33038
DOI 10.3386/w33038
Issue Date
This paper asks whether universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) raises parents' earnings and how much these earnings effects matter for evaluating the economic returns to UPK programs. Using a randomized lottery design, we estimate the effects of enrolling in a full-day UPK program in New Haven, Connecticut on parents' labor market outcomes as well as educational expenditures and children's academic performance. During children's pre-kindergarten years, UPK enrollment increases weekly childcare coverage by 11 hours. Enrollment has limited impacts on children's academic outcomes between kindergarten and 8th grade, likely due to a combination of rapid effect fadeout and substitution away from other programs of similar quality but with shorter days. In contrast, parents work more hours, and their earnings increase by 21.7%. Parents' earnings gains persist for at least six years after the end of pre-kindergarten. Excluding impacts on children, each dollar of net government expenditure yields $5.51 in after-tax benefits for families, almost entirely from parents' earnings gains. This return is large compared to other labor market policies. Conversely, excluding earnings gains for parents, each dollar of net government expenditure yields only $0.46 to $1.32 in benefits, lower than many other education and children's health interventions. We conclude that the economic returns to investing in UPK are high, largely because of full-day UPK's effectiveness as an active labor market policy.
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  • We thank Michele Bonanno, Marquelle Middleton, and the New Haven Public Schools for assistance in accessing school assignment data. We thank Katie Breslin, Scott Gaul, Ajit Gopalakrishnan, Xian Guan, Liam McGucken, Rachel Leventhal-Weiner, and other staff at the Connecticut State Department of Education, Department of Labor, and Office of Early Childhood for assistance in accessing state data. We thank Dave Wilkinson and Nat McLaughlin for their assistance with cross-governmental coordination. We thank Sergio Arango, Manuela Cardona Badillo, Florian Caro, Clara Chambers, and Pablo Uribe for their excellent research assistance. This research received financial support from the Tobin Center for Economic Policy. Neilson discloses that he is the CEO of and has a financial stake in TetherEd, a firm that provides school choice support services to school systems, including to the New Haven public schools. Zimmerman discloses that he holds a volunteer position as a member of the Connecticut State Board of Education and that he has a financial stake in TetherEd. All errors are our own. This work would not be possible without data provided by the P20 WIN Participating Agencies. The findings do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the State of Connecticut or the organizations and agencies contributing data. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

    Christopher Neilson
    I am the founder and interim CEO of ConsiliumBots, the NGO that has implemented projects with New Haven Public Schools in the past. I have not received financial compensation from ConsiliumBots or any other source related this project.

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