Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/184815 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP17/15
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, UCD School of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
Using a randomized experiment, this study investigates the impact of sustained investment in parenting, from pregnancy until age five, in the context of extensive welfare provision. Providing the Preparing for Life program, incorporating home visiting, group parenting, and baby massage, to disadvantaged Irish families raises children's cognitive and socio-emotional/behavioral scores by two-thirds and one-quarter of a standard deviation respectively by school entry. There are few differential effects by gender and stronger gains for firstborns. The results also suggest that socioeconomic gaps in children's skills are narrowed. Analyses account for small sample size, differential attrition, multiple testing, contamination, and performance bias.
Subjects: 
Early childhood intervention
cognitive skills
socio-emotional and behavioral skills
randomized control trial
multiple hypothesis testing
permutation testing
inverse probability weighting
JEL: 
C93
D13
I26
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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