DP9485 Reading to young children: a head-start in life?
Author(s): | Guyonne Kalb, Jan C. van Ours |
Publication Date: | May 2013 |
Keyword(s): | Cognitive skills, Reading to children |
JEL(s): | c26, i21, j24 |
Programme Areas: | Labour Economics |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9485 |
This paper investigates the importance of parents reading to their young children. Using Australian data we find that parental reading to children at age 4 to 5 has positive and significant effects on reading skills and cognitive skills of these children at least up to age 10 or 11. Our findings are robust to a wide range of sensitivity analyses.