Estimating the Technology of Children’s Skill Formation
利用动态潜因子模型，基于美国数据估计了儿童技能形成过程，发现早期（5-6岁）父母投资对认知技能生产尤为有效，且对低技能儿童边际生产率更高，为干预政策提供了依据。
In this paper we study the process of children’s skill formation. Using a dynamic latent factor structure, we show how measurement restrictions on observed measures aid the identification of skill technology features. We then use our identification results to develop and estimate the joint dynamic process of latent investment and skill development, allowing for static and dynamic complementarities in skill production between parental investments and children’s skills. Using data for the United States, we estimate that parental investments are particularly productive in producing cognitive skills during early childhood (ages 5-6). Moreover, we find that the marginal productivity of investments in this period is substantially higher for children with lower existing skills, suggesting the optimal targeting of interventions to disadvantaged young children.