Working Paper: NBER ID: w15827
Authors: Douglas Almond; Janet Currie
Abstract: This chapter seeks to set out what Economists have learned about the effects of early childhood influences on later life outcomes, and about ameliorating the effects of negative influences. We begin with a brief overview of the theory which illustrates that evidence of a causal relationship between a shock in early childhood and a future outcome says little about whether the relationship in question biological or immutable. We then survey recent work which shows that events before five years old can have large long term impacts on adult outcomes. Child and family characteristics measured at school entry do as much to explain future outcomes as factors that labor economists have more traditionally focused on, such as years of education. Yet while children can be permanently damaged at this age, an important message is that the damage can often be remediated. We provide a brief overview of evidence regarding the effectiveness of different types of policies to provide remediation. We conclude with a list of some of (the many) outstanding questions for future research.
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Keywords: early childhood; human capital; remediation; socioeconomic factors; policy interventions
JEL Codes: I12; I21; J13; J24; Q53
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| early childhood shocks (J13) | later life outcomes (J26) |
| events before age five (J13) | long-term effects on adult outcomes (I21) |
| children's test scores at ages 6 to 8 (I21) | high school completion rates (I21) |
| characteristics measured in early childhood (I21) | wages at age 33 (J31) |
| effective interventions (I24) | mitigate negative impacts of early shocks (E71) |
| parental responses to early life shocks (J12) | reinforce or compensate for shocks (E71) |
| socioeconomic status (P36) | mediating effects of early life shocks (I12) |