Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation : A 20-Year Followup to an Experimental Intervention in Jamaica / Paul Gertler

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Gertler, Paul

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Heckman, James.

Pinto, Rodrigo.

Zanolini, Arianna.

Vermeersch, Christel.

Walker, Susan.

Chang, Susan M.

Grantham-McGregor, Sally.

Series:

Policy research working papers.

World Bank e-Library.

NBER working paper series no. w19185

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (63 pages)

Other Title:

Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2013

System Details:

data file

Summary:

This paper finds large effects on the earnings of participants from a randomized intervention that gave psychosocial stimulation to stunted Jamaican toddlers living in poverty. The intervention consisted of one-hour weekly visits from community Jamaican health workers over a 2-year period that taught parenting skills and encouraged mothers to interact and play with their children in ways that would develop their children's cognitive and personality skills. The authors re-interviewed the study participants 20 years after the intervention. Stimulation increased the average earnings of participants by 42 percent. Treatment group earnings caught up to the earnings of a matched non-stunted comparison group. These findings show that psychosocial stimulation early in childhood in disadvantaged settings can have substantial effects on labor market outcomes and reduce later life inequality.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2013.