Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment
研究3-5岁儿童发展的技能如何影响中小学教育成果，发现认知技能、执行功能和经济偏好三个因素各自独立预测未来学业和行为表现，其中早期不耐烦的孩子有更多纪律处分。
We investigate how skills developed when children are 3–5 years old drive schooling outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence. We find that skills map onto three distinct factors—cognitive skills, executive functions, and economic preferences. Importantly, each of the three factors predict later schooling outcomes. While early executive function skills and cognitive scores are linked to future behavioral patterns and other key student outcomes, economic preferences have an independent effect: children who are impatient in early childhood have more disciplinary referrals. Finally, random assignment to preschool impacts grades and disciplinary referrals through changes to cognitive skills and executive functions.