Publication: Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation : A 20-year Followup to an Experimental Intervention in Jamaica
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Published
2013-07
ISSN
Date
2013-09-26
Author(s)
Heckman, James
Pinto, Rodrigo
Zanolini, Arianna
Walker, Susan
Chang-Lopez, Susan
Grantham-McGregor, Sally
Editor(s)
Abstract
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.
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“Heckman, James; Gertler, Paul; Pinto, Rodrigo; Zanolini, Arianna; Walker, Susan; Vermeersch, Christel; Chang-Lopez, Susan; Grantham-McGregor, Sally. 2013. Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation : A 20-year Followup to an Experimental Intervention in Jamaica. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6529. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15887 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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