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  4. November 2019
  5. Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending

Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending

  • Rucker C. Johnson
  • C. Kirabo Jackson
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 11, no. 4, November 2019
(pp. 310-49)
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Abstract

We compare the adult outcomes of cohorts who were differentially exposed to policy-induced changes in Head Start and K–12 spending, depending on place and year of birth. IV and sibling-difference estimates indicate that, for poor children, these policies both increased educational attainment and earnings, and reduced poverty and incarceration. The benefits of Head Start were larger when followed by access to better-funded schools, and increases in K–12 spending were more efficacious when preceded by Head Start exposure. The findings suggest dynamic complementarities, implying that early educational investments that are sustained may break the cycle of poverty.

Citation

Johnson, Rucker C., and C. Kirabo Jackson. 2019. "Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11 (4): 310-49. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180510

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H52 National Government Expenditures and Education
  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I26 Returns to Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy
  • I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
  • I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
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