Early Childhood Environment and Adult Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from U.S. Administrative Data

National Bureau Of Economic Research Inc, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project studies the long-term causal effects of early childhood economic circumstances on adult economic well-being. It examines whether children born into economically distressed areas of the U.S. have persistently worse outcomes in adulthood relative to others, and whether access to the safety net as a child ameliorates or exacerbates some of these disadvantages. In doing so, this project hopes to shed light on the degree to which public programs (including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Head Start, and Food Stamps) play the role of a social safety net in terms of protecting individuals against the long-term consequences of economic disadvantages in early childhood. To answer these questions, this project uses newly available administrative data on a large fraction of the United States workforce that combines information on individuals' dates and places of birth together with information on their annual earnings and employment observed well into their 30s and 40s. This research attempts to uncover some of the long-run consequences of growing up in an economically distressed location in the U.S. These results may have important implications for the recent cohorts of children affected by the Great Recession and contribute to the understanding of the persistence in inequality as well as intergenerational transmission of economic well-being in the U.S. Moreover, this project may help improve the understanding of the benefits and relative efficacy of some of the largest social safety net programs in the United States, which target a large and vulnerable population. The results from this project will be disseminated through forums linking policymakers, the public, and the academic community. The data and programs generated from this research will be available to other researchers, enabling further research on the long-run consequences of early-life disadvantages in the U.S.