The impact of family income on child achievement: Evidence from the earned income tax credit: Reply

GB Dahl, L Lochner - American Economic Review, 2017 - aeaweb.org
American Economic Review, 2017aeaweb.org
Dahl and Lochner (2012) provides some of the first causal evidence of the effects of family
income on child achievement using changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Unfortunately, a coding error in the creation of total family income affects the first stage
estimates and inflates the instrumental variable (IV) estimates. Importantly, it does not affect
the reduced-form estimates or alter statistical significance of the IV estimates. This response
shows that correcting this error does not alter the core findings or main message of the …
Abstract
Dahl and Lochner (2012) provides some of the first causal evidence of the effects of family income on child achievement using changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit. Unfortunately, a coding error in the creation of total family income affects the first stage estimates and inflates the instrumental variable (IV) estimates. Importantly, it does not affect the reduced-form estimates or alter statistical significance of the IV estimates. This response shows that correcting this error does not alter the core findings or main message of the paper. (JEL H24, H31, I21, I38, J13)
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