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  5. Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency

Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency

  • Martha J. Bailey
  • Shuqiao Sun
  • Brenden Timpe
American Economic Review
vol. 111, no. 12, December 2021
(pp. 3963-4001)
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Abstract

This paper evaluates the long-run effects of Head Start using large-scale, restricted administrative data. Using the county roll-out of Head Start between 1965 and 1980 and age-eligibility cutoffs for school entry, we find that Head Start generated large increases in adult human capital and economic self-sufficiency, including a 0.65-year increase in schooling, a 2.7 percent increase in high school completion, an 8.5 percent increase in college enrollment, and a 39 percent increase in college completion. These estimates imply sizable, long-term returns to investments in means-tested, public preschool programs.

Citation

Bailey, Martha J., Shuqiao Sun, and Brenden Timpe. 2021. "Prep School for Poor Kids: The Long-Run Impacts of Head Start on Human Capital and Economic Self-Sufficiency." American Economic Review, 111 (12): 3963-4001. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181801

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I26 Returns to Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy
  • I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
  • J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity