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 · 2021 · Volume 111 · Issue 12
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.
Keywords
Analysis of Education, Returns to Education, Education: Government Policy, Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs, Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs, Human Capital, Skills, Occupational Choice, Labor Productivity
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