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Research Article
Open Access

Can Early Childhood Interventions Decrease Inequality of Economic Opportunity?

Katherine Magnuson, Greg J. Duncan
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2016, 2 (2) 123-141; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.2.05
Katherine Magnuson
aProfessor of School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Greg J. Duncan
bDistinguished Professor in the School of Education, University of California, Irvine
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Abstract

This paper considers whether expanding access to center-based early childhood education (ECE) will reduce economic inequality later in life. A strong evidence base indicates that ECE is effective at improving young children's academic skills and human capital development. We review evidence that children from low-income families have lower rates of preschool enrollment than their more affluent peers. Our analysis indicates that increasing enrollments for preschoolers in the year before school entry is likely to be a worthy investment that will yield economic payoffs in the form of increased adult earnings. The benefits of even a moderately effective ECE program are likely to be sufficient to offset the costs of program expansion, and increased enrollment among low-income children may reduce later economic inequality.

  • early childhood education
  • preschool
  • economic inequality
  • Copyright © 2016 by Russell Sage Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reproduction by the United States Government in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose. Direct correspondence to: Katherine Magnuson at kmagnuson{at}wisc.edu, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1350 University Ave., Madison, WI 53711; and Greg J. Duncan at gduncan{at}uci.edu, School of Education, University of California, Irvine, 2001 Education, Irvine, CA 92697.

Open Access Policy: RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is an open access journal. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 2 (2)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 2, Issue 2
1 May 2016
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Can Early Childhood Interventions Decrease Inequality of Economic Opportunity?
Katherine Magnuson, Greg J. Duncan
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2016, 2 (2) 123-141; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.2.05

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Can Early Childhood Interventions Decrease Inequality of Economic Opportunity?
Katherine Magnuson, Greg J. Duncan
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2016, 2 (2) 123-141; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.2.05
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • MODELS OF CHILD INVESTMENTS AND DEVELOPMENT
    • WHICH EARLY SKILLS MATTER FOR HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION?
    • CURRENT PRESCHOOL INVESTMENTS
    • META-ANALYSIS OF SHORT-TERM PRESCHOOL PROGRAM EFFECTS
    • STUDIES OF PRESCHOOL'S LONG-TERM EFFECTS
    • COSTS OF EXPANDING PRESCHOOL ACCESS
    • WHAT ARE THE LIKELY BENEFITS OF INCREASING PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT?
    • WHAT OTHER TYPES OF INVESTMENTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED?
    • CONCLUSIONS
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Keywords

  • early childhood education
  • preschool
  • economic inequality

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