Do School Entry Laws Affect Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes?

26 Pages Posted: 12 May 2009 Last revised: 3 Nov 2022

See all articles by Carlos Dobkin

Carlos Dobkin

University of California, Santa Cruz - Department of Economics

Fernando V. Ferreira

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 2009

Abstract

Age based school entry laws force parents and educators to consider an important tradeoff: Though students who are the youngest in their school cohort typically have poorer academic performance, on average, they have slightly higher educational attainment. In this paper we document that for a large cohort of California and Texas natives the school entry laws increased educational attainment of students who enter school early, but also lowered their academic performance while in school. However, we find no evidence that the age at which children enter school effects job market outcomes, such as wages or the probability of employment. This suggests that the net effect on adult labor market outcomes of the increased educational attainment and poorer academic performance is close to zero.

Suggested Citation

Dobkin, Carlos and Ferreira, Fernando V., Do School Entry Laws Affect Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes? (May 2009). NBER Working Paper No. w14945, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1401790

Carlos Dobkin (Contact Author)

University of California, Santa Cruz - Department of Economics ( email )

Santa Cruz, CA 95064
United States

Fernando V. Ferreira

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
United States
215-898-7181 (Phone)
215-573-2220 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://real.wharton.upenn.edu/~fferreir/

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