Children's Schooling and Parents' Investment in Children: Evidence from the Head Start Impact Study

Alexander M. Gelber, Adam Isen NBER Working Paper No. 17704 Issued in December 2011 NBER Program(s):   CH   ED   LS   PE  Parents may have important effects on their children, but little work in economics explores how children’s schooling opportunities impact parents’ investment in children. We analyze data from the Head Start Impact Study, in which a lottery granted randomly-chosen preschool-aged children the opportunity to attend Head Start. We find that Head Start causes a substantial and significant increase in parents’ involvement with their children—such as time spent reading to children, math activities, or days spent with children by fathers who do not live with their children—both during and after the period when their children are potentially enrolled in Head Start. We discuss a variety of mechanisms that are consistent with our findings, including a simple model we present in which Head Start impacts parent involvement in part because parents perceive their involvement to be complementary with child schooling in the production of child qualities. You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.