Despite substantial evidence that resources and outcomes are transmitted across generations, there has been limited inquiry into the extent to which antipoverty programs actually disrupt the cycle of bad outcomes. We leverage the rollout of the United States’s largest early-childhood program, Head Start, to estimate the effect of early-childhood exposure among mothers on their children’s long-term outcomes. We find evidence of intergenerational transmission of effects in the form of increased educational attainment, reduced teen pregnancy, and reduced criminal engagement in the second generation. These effects correspond to an estimated increase in discounted second-generation wages of 6%–11%, depending on specification. Exploration of earlier outcomes suggests an important role for changes in parenting behavior and potential noncognitive channels.

中文翻译：

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打破循环？儿童早期反贫困计划的代际影响

尽管有大量证据表明资源和结果会代代相传，但对反贫困计划实际上破坏不良结果循环的程度的调查有限。我们利用美国最大的儿童早期项目 Head Start 的推出来估计母亲在儿童早期接触对孩子长期结果的影响。我们发现了以提高教育程度、减少青少年怀孕和减少第二代犯罪活动的形式影响代际传递的证据。这些影响对应于第二代贴现工资的估计增长 6%–11%，具体取决于具体情况。对早期结果的探索表明，养育行为和潜在的非认知渠道的变化具有重要作用。