Explain that a little bit.

We've seen in lots of time diary evidence in the US, around the world, in Western developed countries, that college-educated parents spend more time with their kids in skill-building activities, and we're worried about that because this gap in time use, we think, predicts a gap in child skills and is a way that inequality gets transmitted across generations.

So we have, as researchers and practitioners and policymakers, thought, "Well, it would be a good idea if we could increase the time that parents with more limited income and education spend with their kids.

Then we could close the gap in child skills and reduce inequality.

Okay, how should we do that?" We have thought about, well, we should give low-income parents cash because then they could go buy more books.

We have thought that we should give parents a tutorial in how children's brains work and teach parents with some sort of education component that if you read to your kids, that will help them read.

We've done a whole variety of things, and frankly, none of them has really shifted the needle on parent time use in kids' skill development.

... "What did you have for lunch?"

So there is a difference in

family habits and family routines.

There's a difference in peer groups.

This is a question I'm quite interested in.

In the U.S., people are segregated residentially.

So people live among others who are like them economically.

And if it's not a habit of the group in which you're embedded to read to your kid every night, to talk with your child at every possible opportunity in a way that fosters child vocabulary, to hope and expect for your child's future educational attainment.

Why?

Always.

And parents are reluctant to, uh, come to terms with the fact that may not be true.

But in any case, the, uh, the general idea is that you, you can update with more accurate information, and parents will change their behavior accordingly.

So if you, if you say, "You d- were you aware that your child is, has been absent 50 times, or is skipping this class, or is not turning in assignments on average?" Well, many parents may not be aware of that, and if you tell them that, they'll change their behavior.

The point of our paper is that the prior research had only shifted one of those signals at a time.

So I know if I, if I give you accurate information about how many times your kid has been absent, I do that, well, generally on average then absenteeism goes down.

The parent-- Something happens and the parent does something about it.

... uh, what is the reaction to that discrepancy if it, assuming that it's there?