Joost de Laat(Utrecht University): “Closing the Early Childhood Skills Gap for Minorities: Evidence from Parental Investments and Preschool Attendance in Concentrated Roma Communities in Bulgaria”

Abstract:
There are approximately 10-12 million Roma estimated in Europe, the largest ethnic minority in Europe. The living conditions among the majority of Europe's Roma minority are dire. A 2016 survey by the Fundamental Rights Agency finds that, in nine European Member States, 80 percent of Roma are at risk of poverty compared with an EU average of 17 percent

The presentation will focus on early childhood development, with a focus on Bulgaria, discussing data and drivers on early childhood development outcomes between Roma and non-Roma from ongoing studies. It will first present recent assessments of child development outcomes on infants from an urban sample, as well as contextual factors such as parenting, agency, loneliness and risk of depression among first time mothers.

It will next present findings from a structural estimation of the relative contributions of preschool and parents to child development in disadvantaged communities in Bulgaria. Using a randomized control trial, the findings first show that increased preschool attendance led to lower investments in parent engagement activities and lower child development. Next, we estimate a child development production function, which reveals that parental investments and preschool attendance both contribute positively to child development but the contribution of parents is at least as large as the contribution of preschool, even for low-educated minority parents. These findings should encourage governments to recognize the strong contribution of parents and favor combinations that encourage preschool participation and parental stimulation at home, also when parents are extremely disadvantaged.