Demand for School Quality in the Pre-School Years

In this paper, we consider the demand for school quality amongst parents with young pre-school children. We undertake two sets of empirical analysis, the first studying house moves amongst families with young children in the UK in the early 2000s, and the second studying house price premia associated with school quality for this cohort of young children before they enter school. We present results showing that education related house moves frequently occur in the pre-school years and that parents are prepared to pay significant sums of money to buy a house located near to better performing primary schools, even before their children reach school starting age. We interpret this as showing that there is evidence of a strong demand for school quality in the early years as parents (especially more educated and well-to-do parents) ‘gear up’ their quest for what they perceive to be better schooling for their children before they start school.