ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

Figure 4-8
Likelihood of Scoring Very Low
on Behavioral Indexes at Age 5, 2006
Percent Scoring Very Low
30
Below 100% of Federal Poverty Level
Above 185% of Federal Poverty Level
25
23
20
20
15
13 13
10
5
0
Learning-Related Behaviors
Externalizing Behaviors
Note: Very low is defined as more than one standard deviation below average on behavioral measures.
Data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Program Birth Cohort. Test scores were measured in
the fall of 2006.
Source: Isaacs (2012).
Gaps in Resource and Time Investment
As discussed above, these large gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive
skills may be due in part to large differences in inputs, including both
parental inputs and formal, high-quality early learning opportunities.
Today, inequalities in parental inputs such as time, resources, earnings, and
education are higher than in the past. Parents in the top fifth of income
earners now spend seven times more on enrichment activities and materials
for their children—such as books, computers, summer camps, and music
lessons—than families in the bottom fifth (Duncan and Murnane 2011).
Moreover, as income inequality has grown, so has inequality in child-related
expenditures.
Higher-income parents generally have more time to spend with their
children, and the amount of time they spend has been increasing at a faster
rate than among lower-income parents (Figure 4-9).8 This may reflect, in
part, that higher-income workers are much more likely to have access to
paid time off and workplace flexibility, which they can use to spend quality
time with young children (CEA 2015b). This additional time, particularly
time spent playing and engaging in a child’s development, is important for
early cognitive and socio-emotional development. For example, research
demonstrates that reading to children is crucial for early language acquisi-
8 See Ramey and Ramey (2010) and Bianchi (2010) for further details.
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