Working Paper: NBER ID: w25059
Authors: Orazio Attanasio; Helen Baker-Henningham; Raquel Bernal; Costas Meghir; Diana Pineda; Marta Rubio-Codina
Abstract: Early Childhood Development is becoming the focus of policy worldwide. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of scalable models is scant, particularly when it comes to infants in developing countries. In this paper we describe and evaluate with a cluster-RCT an intervention designed to improve the quality of child stimulation within the context of an existing parenting program in Colombia, known as FAMI. The intervention improved children’s development by 0.16 of a standard deviation (SD) and children’s nutritional status, as reflected in a reduction of 5.8 percentage points of children whose height-for-age is below - 1 SD.
Keywords: early childhood development; nutrition; intervention; Colombia; child stimulation
JEL Codes: H43; I10; I20; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| parental investments (J13) | cognitive development (O11) |
| parental investments (J13) | nutritional status (I31) |
| intervention (D74) | cognitive development (O11) |
| intervention (D74) | nutritional status (I31) |
| intervention (D74) | height-for-age Z-score (O15) |