Sarah Grace See (Collegio Carlo Alberto)

“Parental Inputs, Formal Care, and Child Outcomes”

Abstract

Child outcomes are believed to be a result of cumulative inputs from both within and outside the family. Taking the theory of skill formation (Carneiro and Heckman, 2003) and the model of child outcome production function (Todd and Wolpin, 2003), earlier endowments especially those of high quality will contribute more to child development. They can also serve as a mechanism to improve the outcomes, particularly of those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This research uses the Kindergarten cohort of the German dataset National Educational Panel Study to investigate (a) how formal care in terms of duration and intensity, and (b) how family and school learning activities affect child outcomes. Results indicate that a longer exposure to formal care has a general positive influence on child outcomes, and that family learning activities have stronger positive effects relative to school learning activities.