The impact of the earned income tax credit on child educational achievement in the United States

Using a variation of difference-in-differences model, this thesis examines the effects of three different Earned Income Tax Credit expansions and EITC eligibility on children's total PIAT score, mathematic PIAT score, and reading comprehension PIAT score. More specifically, we estimate the effects of background and familial factors, which include total family income, age, residential location, race, gender, mother's educational level, mother's age at child's birth, household size and poverty status on child achievement. In an ideal world, children of all racial groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and family history would have an equal opportunity in education. However, it is evident that family income positively affects children's test scores, and EITC can provide an additional source of income for families, leading to improved scores. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth from 1979, our results show that over the years as the EITC expansions occur, a positive relation exist between EITC eligible students and children educational achievement, although, these effect were not statistically significant.