tailieunhanh - Matenal input Choices and Child Cognitive Development

A potential signal that the mother uses to update her belief about the child’s true endowment level is the child’s performance on achievement tests in later ages. If the mother’s understanding of the child’s cognitive ability endowment via achievement tests is the true mechanism, then the data should provide ample support that poor or good performance on the achievement test leads to immediate changes in input choices. | WORKING P A P E R Maternal Input Choices and Child Cognitive Development Testing for Reverse Causality ZAFAR NAZAROV WR-813 November 2010 This paper series made possible by the NIA funded RAND Center for the Study of Aging P30AG012815 and the NICHD funded RAND Population Research Center R24HD050906 . This product is part of the RAND Labor and Population working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND Labor and Population but have not been formally edited or peer reviewed. Unless otherwise indicated working papers can be quoted and cited without permission of the author provided the source is clearly referred to as a working paper. RAND s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. RAND is a registered trademark. RAND LABOR AND POPULATION Maternal Input Choices and Child Cognitive Development Testing for Reverse Causality Zafar E. Nazarov12 October 2010 RAND Corporation Abstract I assess whether the results of child achievement tests affect maternal employment and the child-care choices of mothers with prekindergarten children. To test this hypothesis I first incorporate into Bernal and Keane s 2010 model the mother s imperfect knowledge of the child s cognitive ability endowment and possible mechanisms through which the mother may learn the child s endowment. Then I use a quasi-structural approach to form approximations to the mother s employment and child-care decision rules and jointly estimate them with the child cognitive development production function and wage equation. Using a sample of single mothers from the NLSY79 I find evidence that maternal employment and child-care decisions are sensitive to past achievement scores. In particular a mother whose child has taken the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test before entering kindergarten and whose child s standardized test score is above a .