Search Results
Title: The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children
Resulting in 1 citation.
| 1. |
Heckman, James J. Masterov, Dimitriy V. |
|
The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children Presented: Chicago, IL, T.W. Schultz Award Lecture at the Allied Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting, January 2007. Also: http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Invest/FILES/dugger_2004-12-02_dvm.pdf Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Childbearing, Adolescent; Children, Academic Development; Children, Behavioral Development; Children, Home Environment; Crime; Disadvantaged, Economically; Education; Family Environment; Family Structure; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Human Capital; I.Q.; International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS); Labor Market Demographics; Literacy; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Skill Formation Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Education, perseverance and motivation are all major factors determining productivity, both in the workplace and beyond it. The family is a major producer of these skills, which are indispensable for successful students and workers. Unfortunately, many families have failed to perform this task well in recent years. This retards the growth in the quality of the labor force. Dysfunctional families are also a major determinant of child participation in crime and other costly pathological behaviors. On productivity grounds alone, it appears to make sound business sense to invest in young children from disadvantaged environments. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that early childhood interventions are much more effective than remedies that attempt to compensate for early neglect later in life. Enriched pre-kindergarten programs available to disadvantaged children on a voluntary basis, coupled with home visitation programs, have a strong track record of promoting achievement for disadvantaged children, improving their labor market outcomes and reducing involvement with crime. Such programs are likely to generate substantial savings to society and to promote higher economic growth by improving the skills of the workforce. |
|
|
Bibliography Citation
Heckman, James J. and Dimitriy V. Masterov. "The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children." Presented: Chicago, IL, T.W. Schultz Award Lecture at the Allied Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting, January 2007. |