This paper formulates a structural dynamic programming model of preschool investment choices of altruistic parents and then empirically estimates the structural parameters of the model using the NLSY79 data. The paper finds that preschool investment significantly boosts cognitive and...

The politics of higher education -- College and the myth of the good job -- Why higher education reduces social mobility -- The myth of the fair meritocracy -- How college changed childhood, education, and parenting in America -- Training undemocratic capitalists -- The death of the liberal...

We evaluate the aggregate, distributional and welfare consequences of alternative government education policies to encourage college completion, such as making college free and improving funding for public schooling. To do so, we construct a general equilibrium overlapping generations model with...