Parents’ Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten

John Eric Humphries, Christopher A. Neilson, Xiaoyang Ye, Seth Zimmerman, "Parents’ Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten", Econometrica, 2026, doi: 10.3386/w33038.

@article{ upk-laborsupply_2026,
  title = "Parents’ Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten",
  author = "Humphries, John Eric and Neilson, Christopher A. and Ye, Xiaoyang and Zimmerman, Seth",
  journal = "Econometrica",
  year = "2026",
  note = "rr",
  doi = "10.3386/w33038"
,
  abstract = "We study the economic returns to universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) through a key (and often under-measured) channel: parents’ labor supply and earnings. Using randomized admission lotteries from New Haven’s full-day UPK program, we estimate the causal effect of UPK access on parents’ work and income over time. Parents substantially increase labor supply and earnings, and these gains persist for at least six years after the UPK year. In contrast, we find comparatively small impacts on children’s test scores. The implied benefits are large: each $1 of net government spending generates about $5.51 in after-tax benefits for families from earnings gains alone."
,
  url = "https://spinup-000d1a-wp-offload-media.s3.amazonaws.com/faculty/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2024/12/NHPS_pre_k_NBER_main.pdf"
,
  url_article = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w33038"
}