Author(s)
Jorge Luis Garcia
James J. Heckman
Victor Ronda

This paper demonstrates multiple beneficial impacts of a program promoting intergenerational mobility for disadvantaged African-American children and their children. The program improves outcomes of the first-generation treatment group across the life cycle, which translates into better family environments for the second generation leading to positive intergenerational gains. There are long-lasting beneficial program effects on cognition through age 54, contradicting claims of fadeout that have dominated popular discussions of early childhood programs. Children of the first-generation treatment group have higher levels of education and employment, lower levels of criminal activity, and better health than children of the first-generation control group.

Publication Type
Working Paper
File Description
First version, July 14, 2021
JEL Codes
J13: Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
I28: Education: Government Policy
C93: Field Experiments
H43: Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
Keywords
intergenerational mobility
racial inequality
social mobility