Joanna Sikora from ANU, with US colleagues, analysed results from a 31-country test to find a positive benefit to literacy and numeracy among adolescents who grow up in homes with books.  Young people with books at home who end education at Year Nine had similar test results to graduates who come from book-less homes.  “Scholarly culture is a way of life rather than concerted cultivation,” the authors argue. “”Early exposure to books in the parental home matters because books are an integral part of routines and practices which enhance lifelong cognitive competencies.”

You can read more if you have access to the Elsevier published Social Science Research or are prepared to pay US$9.50 for 24-hours access to the paper. The irony of restricting access to research on the benefits of access to knowledge appears to have escaped the publisher.