Comprehensive Early Childhood Development Support Systems and Academic Achievement: The Case of Chile Crece Contigo

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of comprehensive early childhood support systems on human capital accumulation for children under five, focusing on the impact on later academic achievement of the first generations of children exposed to "Chile Crece Contigo," the first policy of its kind in Latin America. To estimate the returns of the policy's availability, I use the variation in children's ages when the policy was implemented in their municipality of residence, resulting from the staggered roll-out across the country. Based on administrative records from seven cohorts (2012-2018) of fourth-grade students in Chile, I estimate an event-study design, showing that children exposed to the policy have higher test scores in language and mathematics by age 10. The positive effects are observed in children exposed before thirty-six months old. Specifically, positive effects are found in mathematics (.21 of a standard deviation) and language (.23 of a standard deviation) test scores for children exposed during or before their prenatal stage, compared to children for whom the program began when they were older than sixty months. These results align with the schedule of interventions and early detection instruments established by the policy. When examining the differences in returns to exposure across sex and socioeconomic status, evidence suggests that the comprehensive child support system has higher returns for boys, which could be partially explained by differences in access to need-based services, and that these sex differences occur in children exposed at earlier ages. Additionally, no relevant differences are found between students classified as low socioeconomic background and those not classified in this category.

Keywords: Chile Crece Contigo, long-term return, early childhood interventions I38, J13, J18