This paper investigates whether pre-kindergarten (pre-K) attendance mediates the relationship between low birthweight and children's academic achievement in elementary school. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K:2011), I estimate a mediation model combining OLS with heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variables. Low birthweight exerts a persistent, negative direct effect on reading and math scores, with larger penalties in mathematics and for low-income children. The indirect effect through pre-K participation is small and statistically insignificant, indicating that pre-K does not substantially mediate the birthweight–achievement relationship nationally, though heterogeneity analyses show a positive, imprecisely estimated indirect effect for low-income children.

We study how industrial robots affect human capital investment during high school. Using Texas administrative records for 2004–2018 and an instrument based on European robot adoption, we find that greater local robot exposure shifts coursework toward college preparation and away from vocational subjects. We also document lower dropout and higher observed completion. Advanced course enrollment rises throughout high school, while dropout reductions and additional math, science, and technology coursework are concentrated in the upper grades. Both boys and girls increase academic investment, but the implications for gender gaps differ: some differences in subject enrollment narrow, while girls' larger gains in advanced coursework reinforce their existing advantage. These patterns suggest that students respond to changing local labor demand by strengthening their preparation for further education. Human capital formation is therefore an early margin of adjustment to automation, shaping the skills of the workforce that will face its longer-run consequences.