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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence From Project Star, Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hilger, Emmanuel Saez, Diane Schanzenbach, Danny Yagan
How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence From Project Star, Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hilger, Emmanuel Saez, Diane Schanzenbach, Danny Yagan
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to classrooms within their schools from kindergarten to third grade. This article evaluates the long-term impacts of STAR by linking the experimental data to administrative records. We first demonstrate that kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with outcomes such as earnings at age 27, college attendance, home ownership, and retirement savings. We then document four sets of experimental impacts. First, students in small classes are significantly more likely to attend college and exhibit improvements on other outcomes. Class size does not have a significant effect on earnings …
Is Being In School Better? The Impact Of School On Children's Bmi When Starting Age Is Endogenous, Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Elizabeth Cascio, Diane Schanzenbach
Is Being In School Better? The Impact Of School On Children's Bmi When Starting Age Is Endogenous, Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Elizabeth Cascio, Diane Schanzenbach
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
In this paper, we investigate the impact of attending school on body weight and obesity using a regression-discontinuity design. As is the case with academic outcomes, school exposure is related to unobserved determinants of weight outcomes because some families choose to have their child start school late (or early). If one does not account for this endogeneity, it appears that an additional year of school exposure results in a greater BMI and a higher probability of being overweight or obese. When we compare the weight outcomes of similar age children with one versus two years of school exposure due to …
Inside The War On Poverty: The Impact Of Food Stamps On Birth Outcomes, Douglas Almond, Hilary Hoynes, Diane Schanzenbach
Inside The War On Poverty: The Impact Of Food Stamps On Birth Outcomes, Douglas Almond, Hilary Hoynes, Diane Schanzenbach
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
This paper evaluates the health impacts of a signature initiative of the War on Poverty: the introduction of the modern Food Stamp Program (FSP). Using variation in the month FSP began operating in each U.S. county, we find that pregnancies exposed to FSP three months prior to birth yielded deliveries with increased birth weight, with the largest gains at the lowest birth weights. We also find small but statistically insignificant improvements in neonatal mortality. We conclude that the sizable increase in income from FSP improved birth outcomes for both whites and African Americans, with larger impacts for African American mothers.
Who Would Be Affected By Soda Taxes?, Diane Schanzenbach, Leslie Mcgranahan
Who Would Be Affected By Soda Taxes?, Diane Schanzenbach, Leslie Mcgranahan
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
In 2009–10, 17 states considered expanding taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) as a potential source of funds and a means to curb obesity. This article examines the various types of soda tax proposals, the underlying economic theory, and the anticipated impact of the proposed taxes on different population groups.
Adequate (Or Adipose?) Yearly Progress: Assessing The Effect Of "No Child Left Behind" On Children's Obesity, Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Diane Schanzenbach
Adequate (Or Adipose?) Yearly Progress: Assessing The Effect Of "No Child Left Behind" On Children's Obesity, Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Diane Schanzenbach
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
This paper investigates how accountability pressures under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may affect children’s rate of overweight. Schools facing increased pressures to produce academic outcomes may reallocate their efforts in ways that have unintended consequences for children’s health. For example, schools may cut back on recess and physical education in favor of increasing time on tested subjects. To examine the impact of school accountability programs, we create a unique panel data set of schools in Arkansas that allows us to test the impact of NCLB rules on students’ weight outcomes. Our main approach is to consider schools to be …
Experimental Evidence On The Effect Of Childhood Investments On Postsecondary Attainment And Degree Completion, Susan Dynarski, Joshua Hyman, Diane Schanzenbach
Experimental Evidence On The Effect Of Childhood Investments On Postsecondary Attainment And Degree Completion, Susan Dynarski, Joshua Hyman, Diane Schanzenbach
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
This paper examines the effect of early childhood investments on college enrollment and degree completion. We use the random assignment in the Project STAR experiment to estimate the effect of smaller classes in primary school on college entry, college choice, and degree completion. We improve on existing work in this area with unusually detailed data on college enrollment spells and the previously unexplored outcome of college degree completion. We find that assignment to a small class increases the probability of attending college by 2.7 percentage points, with effects more than twice as large among blacks. Among those with the lowest …