Working Paper: NBER ID: w0451
Authors: Robert A. Shakotko
Abstract: This paper is an empirical investigation of childhood and adolescent health and cognitive development as determined by family economic variables. The model proposed recognizes that these processes may be jointly dependent, and may in part be determined by common unobserved factors; these factors may also be correlated with the observed family economic variables. A two-factor model is estimated using panel data, and the results indicate that when such factors are taken account of, family income is estimated to have no significant influence on health and cognitive development, but parents' education a strong positive influence.
Keywords: child health; cognitive development; family income; parents education
JEL Codes: I12; I21; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| systematic unobserved factors (C29) | health (I19) |
| systematic unobserved factors (C29) | cognitive development (O11) |
| parents' education (I24) | health (I19) |
| parents' education (I24) | cognitive development (O11) |
| family income (D31) | health (I19) |
| family income (D31) | cognitive development (O11) |
| early childhood achievement (I24) | health (I19) |
| poor early health (I14) | cognitive development (O11) |
| poor health (I14) | cognitive development (O11) |