Author Archives: timbartik

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About timbartik

Tim Bartik is a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a non-profit and non-partisan research organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His research specializes in state and local economic development policies and local labor markets.

Universal pre-k: effects on income distribution

Over the course of several different blog posts, I have been discussing what both logic and evidence suggest for how the effects of preschool vary across different income groups.  Given this discussion, what are plausible estimates of the effects of … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | 3 Comments

Why Michigan (and other states) should invest in preschool

I recently (January 11, 2011) gave a speech on the case for investing in preschool to the Detroit Area Grantmakers of the Council of Michigan Foundations.  This speech has recently been posted at the Upjohn Institute website. The speech includes … Continue reading

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Why Michigan (and other states) should invest in preschool

What is the evidence for whether preschool works for more advantaged children? Part III: Evidence from a random assignment experiment

As I mentioned in a previous post, most of the random assignment experiments for the effects of preschool have focused on disadvantaged students. In general, foundations and governments have not financed random assignment experiments on how preschool has affected more … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | 1 Comment

Early childhood education and the U.S. labor market crisis

I have a guest post, entitled “Early Childhood Education and the U.S. Labor Market Crisis” at the blog, “Preschool Matters…Today!”, run by the National Institute for Early Education Research. I appreciate the opportunity provided by Steve Barnett and NIEER to … Continue reading

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What is the evidence for whether preschool works for more advantaged children? Part II: Evidence from Tulsa studies

Studies of pre-k in Tulsa, by William Gormley and his colleagues at Georgetown, provide good direct evidence on the relative effects of a state pre-school program on kindergarten readiness for different income groups. Tulsa participates in Oklahoma’s universal pre-k program, … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | 2 Comments

What is the evidence for whether preschool works for more advantaged children? Part I, Studies of state pre-k programs that are not exclusively focused on the poor

I have been discussing how the economic development benefits of pre-k vary across different income groups (e.g., lower class vs. middle class vs. upper class).  This is a key issue in deciding on the merits of “targeted pre-k”, which would … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | 2 Comments

How would we expect pre-k benefits to vary with family income?

Based on what we know about child development and labor markets, how would we expect pre-k’s effects on the earnings of former child participants as adults to vary with the income of the child’s family?  Subsequent posts will review more … Continue reading

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What does the distinction between universal versus targeted preschool mean?

When we talk about creating “universal” access to preschool, versus expanding “targeted” preschool, we largely are asking whether we should just expand preschool for the poor, versus whether we should also expand preschool for the working class and middle class. … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | 1 Comment

Early childhood programs and income distribution: some points of agreement

In this post, and subsequent posts, I will consider how early childhood programs affect the earnings of different income groups. As part of this discussion, I will also consider the politically contentious issue of whether expanded pre-K programs should be … Continue reading

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Why business incentives are progressive at the local level, but only to a limited degree

In this post, and a series of subsequent posts, I will consider how different types of economic development programs affect lower income versus middle income versus upper income groups.  This topic is considered in chapter 8 of my book Investing … Continue reading

Posted in Business incentives, Distribution of benefits | Comments Off on Why business incentives are progressive at the local level, but only to a limited degree