1. Is September Better than January? The Effect of Minimum School Entry Age Laws on Skill Accumulation Elizabeth Dhuey University of Toronto Kelly Bedard University of California, Santa Barbara

2. States with later cutoff dates have younger entrants This implies: – an earlier start for “school” skill accumulation – more “not ready for school” entrants → this may have direct and indirect effects

3. Minimum school entry age laws

4. Cutoff change age effects Absolute age effect – for directly affected children Cohort age effect – for directly and indirectly affected children Relative age effect – for directly and indirectly affected children

5. Minimum school entry age coding Cutoff dates are translated into the youngest legal school entry age Examples Cutoff dateMinimum entry age January 156 months (4 years and 8 months) October 1558.5 months September 160 months

6. Short-run effects of minimum school entry age laws Compliance with entry law changes

7. Education & Wage data 2000 U.S. 5% Census & 2001-2007 American Community Surveys 1959-1981 U.S. born male cohorts (25-47 year old men who reside in the 48 contiguous states) 16 cutoff changes Sample Definitions – Education: All males – Wages : Males not in school who report positive hours, weeks of work, and wage income.

8. Other education policy controls School exit laws Pupil-teacher ratios Relative teachers salaries State subsidization of kindergarten

9. Educational attainment Ed ibty =attainment for a specified level of education for individual i born in state b in year t observed in Census/ACS year y S =minimum school entry age X = school quality and demographic controls A = current age B = state of birth T = census division of birth specific cohort indicators

11. Hourly Wages W ibty =ln hourly wage for individual i born in state b in year t observed in Census/ACS year y S =minimum school entry age X = school quality and demographic controls A = current age B = state of birth T = census division of birth specific cohort indicators

14. Summary Increasing the minimum school entry age – has little discernable impact on educational attainment – increases the average hourly wage by approximately 0.7 percent per month → a January to October change increases average hourly earnings by 2.1 percent