Deming, David2014-06-112009Deming, David. 2009. “Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1(3): 111–134. doi:10.1257/app.1.3.111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.1.3.111.1945-7782http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12305831This paper provides new evidence on the long-term benefits of Head Start using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I compare siblings who differ in their participation in the program, controlling for a variety of pre-treatment covariates. I estimate that Head Start participants gain 0.23 standard deviations on a summary index of young adult outcomes. This closes one-third of the gap between children with median and bottom quartile family income, and is about 80 percent as large as model programs such as Perry Preschool. The long-term impact for disadvantaged children is large despite "fadeout" of test score gains.en-USJournal Article2014-06-06David Deming2014-06-1110.1257/app.1.3.111