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Title: Human Capital Policy
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Heckman, James J.
Carneiro, Pedro M.
Human Capital Policy
NBER Working Paper No. 9495, National Bureau of Economic Research, February 2003.
Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W9495
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Family Background and Culture; Family Income; Job Training; Life Cycle Research; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Racial Equality/Inequality; School Quality; Skill Formation; Skills; Tuition

This paper considers alternative policies for promoting skill formation that are targetted to different stages of the life cycle. We demonstrate the importance of both cognitive and noncognitive skills that are formed early in the life cycle in accounting for racial, ethnic and family background gaps in schooling and other dimensions of socioeconomic success. Most of the gaps in college attendance and delay are determined by early family factors. Children from better families and with high ability earn higher returns to schooling. We find only a limited role for tuition policy or family income supplements in eliminating schooling and college attendance gaps. At most 8% of American youth are credit constrained in the traditional usage of that term. The evidence points to a high return to early interventions and a low return to remedial or compensatory interventions later in the life cycle. Skill and ability beget future skill and ability. At current levels of funding, traditional policies like tuition subsidies, improvements in school quality, job training and tax rebates are unlikely to be effective in closing gaps.
Bibliography Citation
Heckman, James J. and Pedro M. Carneiro. "Human Capital Policy." NBER Working Paper No. 9495, National Bureau of Economic Research, February 2003.