Parental investment, school choice, and the persistent benefits of an early childhood intervention

We present evidence from a randomised experiment testing the impacts of a six-month early childhood home-visiting program on child outcomes and parental investment behaviour at school entry. Two and a half years after completion of the program, we find large persistent effects on parental investment at home, as well as large effects on preschool enrolment. Children in treatment villages were enrolled earlier and in higher quality preschools, the latter reflecting a shift in preferences over preschool attributes towards quality. Finally, we find evidence that the program increased child working memory, but do not find strong evidence of impacts on other cognitive sub-domains or on non-cognitive skills of children at school entry.