This project will produce the first research to comprehensively examine the effects of public investments on inequality in family behavior and child well-being. Drawing on an interdisciplinary team with complementary expertise, it will advance theoretical and empirical understanding of the role of governments and families in supporting children?s healthy development. Recent research identifies significant class gaps in ?parental investments,? defined by expenditures and time with children, as well as in children?s development and academic achievement. Parents with more income and education invest more resources and developmentally targeted time toward their children, and these investments influence cognitive and academic development (Hao and Yeung 2015; Hernandez-Alava and Popli 2017; Kalil, Ryan and Corey 2012; Pensiero 2011; Reardon 2011). Public investments in children and families, though increasingly under threat, have the potential to reduce class gaps in child investments both by providing a ?floor? of investment and potentially freeing low-income parents to reallocate expenditures and time use from basic necessities and basic care to development investment. The combination of public investment and equalization in private investment then has the potential to reduce class inequality in child development. However, there is very limited evidence on how public and private investments interact to impact family and child inequality. The purpose of this project is to examine how state-level public investments in children and families affect class inequality in private investments and child outcomes. The research has the following aims: (1) Collect state-by-state data on local, state and federal spending on major programs (in the areas of income support, education, health and other spending) affecting children and families between 1992-2015, in order to describe state by state trends in children?s public goods; (2): Link the state-by-state database to individual-level microdata that permit examination of family and child inequality; and (3) Examine whether class gaps in: a) parental investments, and b) children?s developmental outcomes are smaller or larger in states with higher child and family spending. Public spending data will come from the U.S. Census State and Local Government Finance Survey Data (1992-2015), as well as from federal agency websites and other sources. These data will be linked to two national, longitudinal surveys measuring family investments and children?s academic development: the Consumer Expenditure Survey from 1992-2016, and the 1998-1999 and the 2010-2011 kindergarten cohorts of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. This is a first step toward a larger project for which the PI is leveraging additional funding from the Spencer Foundation to support her time.
This project will produce the first research to comprehensively examine the effects of public investments on inequality in family behavior and child health and development. The purpose of this project is to examine how state-level public investments in children and families affect class inequality in private investments and child outcomes.
