IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucn/wpaper/201310.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring Investment in Human Capital Formation: An Experimental Analysis of Early Life Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Orla Doyle

    (University College Dublin)

  • Colm Harmon

    (University of Sydney)

  • James J Heckman

    (University of Chicago)

  • Caitriona Logue

    (University College Dublin)

  • Seong Hyeok Moon

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

The literature on skill formation and human capital development clearly demonstrates that early investment in children is an equitable and efficient policy with large returns in adulthood. Yet little is known about the mechanisms involved in producing these long-term effects. This paper presents early evidence on the nature of skill formation based on an experimentally designed, five-year home visiting program in Ireland targeting disadvantaged families - Preparing for Life (PFL). We examine the impact of investment between utero to 18 months of age on a range of parental and child outcomes. Using the methodology of Heckman et al. (2010a), permutation testing methods and a stepdown procedure are applied to account for the small sample size and the increased likelihood of false discoveries when examining multiple outcomes. The results show that the program impact is concentrated on parental behaviors and the home environment, with little impact on child development at this early stage. This indicates that home visiting programs can be effective at offsetting deficits in parenting skills within a relatively short timeframe, yet continued investment may be required to observe direct effects on child development. While correcting for attrition bias leads to some changes in the precision of estimates, overall the results are quite similar.

Suggested Citation

  • Orla Doyle & Colm Harmon & James J Heckman & Caitriona Logue & Seong Hyeok Moon, 2013. "Measuring Investment in Human Capital Formation: An Experimental Analysis of Early Life Outcomes," Working Papers 201310, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/WP13_10.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Orla Doyle, 2012. "Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation: An Experimental Evaluation of an Early Childhood Intervention," Working Papers 201212, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    2. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
    3. Doyle, Orla & Harmon, Colm P. & Heckman, James J. & Tremblay, Richard E., 2009. "Investing in early human development: Timing and economic efficiency," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, March.
    4. James Heckman & Seong Hyeok Moon & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev & Adam Yavitz, 2010. "Analyzing social experiments as implemented: A reexamination of the evidence from the HighScope Perry Preschool Program," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(1), pages 1-46, July.
    5. Orla Doyle & Kelly McNamara & Carly Cheevers & Sarah Finnegan & Caitriona Logue & Louise McEntee, 2010. "Preparing for Life Early Childhood Intervention. Impact Evaluation Report 1: Recruitment and Baseline Characteristics," Working Papers 201050, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Knudsen, Eric I. & Heckman, James J. & Cameron, Judy L. & Shonkoff, Jack P., 2006. "Economic, Neurobiological and Behavioral Perspectives on Building America's Future Workforce," IZA Discussion Papers 2190, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Joseph P. Romano & Michael Wolf, 2005. "Exact and Approximate Stepdown Methods for Multiple Hypothesis Testing," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 100, pages 94-108, March.
    8. Eric Knudsen & James J. Heckman & Judy Cameron & Jack P. Shonkoff, 2006. "Economic, Neurobiological and Behavioral Perspectives on Building America’s Future Workforce," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 7(3), pages 17-41, July.
    9. LeCroy, Craig Winston & Krysik, Judy, 2011. "Randomized trial of the healthy families Arizona home visiting program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1761-1766, October.
    10. James Heckman & Seong Hyeok Moon & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev & Adam Yavitz, 2010. "Analyzing social experiments as implemented: evidence from the HighScope Perry Preschool Program," CeMMAP working papers CWP22/10, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    11. Joseph P. Romano & Azeem M. Shaikh & Michael Wolf, 2010. "Hypothesis Testing in Econometrics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 75-104, September.
    12. repec:mpr:mprres:7046 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Measuring Investment in Human Capital Formation: An Experimental Analysis of Early Life Outcomes
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-09-25 17:15:21
    2. Measuring Investment in Human Capital Formation: An Experimental Analysis of Early Life Outcomes
      by Liam Delaney in Economics, Psychology and Policy on 2013-08-09 20:18:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arnaud Chevalier & Olivier Marie, 2013. "Economic Uncertainty, Parental Selection, and the Criminal Activity of the "Children of the Wall"," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 605, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    2. Orla Doyle, 2017. "The First 2,000 Days and Child Skills: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Home Visiting," Working Papers 201715, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. Arnaud Chevalier & Olivier Marie, 2017. "Economic Uncertainty, Parental Selection, and Children’s Educational Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 393-430.
    4. Liu, Chang & Eriksson, Tor & Yi, Fujin, 2021. "Offspring migration and nutritional status of left-behind older adults in rural China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    5. Orla Doyle & Nick Fitzpatrick & Judy Lovett & Caroline Rawdon, 2015. "Early intervention and child health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Working Papers 201505, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Ukaj MIC & Mustafa Topxhiu RAHMIJE, 2019. "The returns to investment in education: Some theoretical and empirical insights," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 1, pages 193-203.
    7. Carneiro, Pedro & Galasso, Emanuela & Lopez Garcia, Italo & Bedregal, Paula & Cordero, Miguel, 2019. "Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 12506, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Sammy Zahran & Terrence Iverson & Shawn P. McElmurry & Stephan Weiler, 2017. "The Effect of Leaded Aviation Gasoline on Blood Lead in Children," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 575-610.
    9. Orla Doyle, 2020. "Can Early Intervention have a Sustained Effect on Human Capital?," Working Papers 202008, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    10. Sandner, Malte, 2013. "Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Child Development and Early Skill Formation. Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-518, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    11. Michelangelo Landgrave, 2023. "Why Do Migrant Parents Give Their Children Distinctively Ethnic Names? Evidence from a Pre-registered Analysis," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 19-33, March.
    12. Doyle, Orla & Fitzpatrick, Nick & Lovett, Judy & Rawdon, Caroline, 2015. "Early intervention and child physical health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 224-245.
    13. Cortés, Darwin & Maldonado, Darío & Gallego, Juan & Charpak, Nathalie & Tessier, Rejean & Ruiz, Juan Gabriel & Hernandez, José Tiberio & Uriza, Felipe & Pico, Julieth, 2022. "Comparing long-term educational effects of two early childhood health interventions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Clara E. Piano, 2022. "The family and the state: a public choice perspective," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 383-405, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doyle, Orla & Harmon, Colm & Heckman, James J. & Logue, Caitriona & Moon, Seong Hyeok, 2017. "Early skill formation and the efficiency of parental investment: A randomized controlled trial of home visiting," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 40-58.
    2. Orla Doyle & Nick Fitzpatrick & Judy Lovett & Caroline Rawdon, 2015. "Early intervention and child health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Working Papers 201505, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    3. Doyle, Orla & Fitzpatrick, Nick & Lovett, Judy & Rawdon, Caroline, 2015. "Early intervention and child physical health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 224-245.
    4. Orla Doyle, 2017. "The First 2,000 Days and Child Skills: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Home Visiting," Working Papers 2017-054, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. Marta Favara & Alan Sanchez, 2017. "Psychosocial competencies and risky behaviours in Peru," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-40, December.
    6. Akabayashi, Hideo & Ruberg, Tim & Shikishima, Chizuru & Yamashita, Jun, 2023. "Education-oriented and care-oriented preschools: Implications on child development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Orazio Attanasio & Sarah Cattan & Emla Fitzsimons & Costas Meghir & Marta Rubio-Codina, 2020. "Estimating the Production Function for Human Capital: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Colombia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(1), pages 48-85, January.
    8. Fabian Kosse & Thomas Deckers & Pia Pinger & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Armin Falk, 2020. "The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 434-467.
    9. James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2014. "The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 689-733, August.
    10. Heckman, James J. & Kautz, Tim, 2012. "Hard evidence on soft skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 451-464.
    11. Cortés, Darwin & Maldonado, Darío & Gallego, Juan & Charpak, Nathalie & Tessier, Rejean & Ruiz, Juan Gabriel & Hernandez, José Tiberio & Uriza, Felipe & Pico, Julieth, 2022. "Comparing long-term educational effects of two early childhood health interventions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Laia Bosque-Mercader, 2022. "The Effect of a Universal Preschool Programme on Long-Term Health Outcomes: Evidence from Spain," Working Papers 2022-07, FEDEA.
    13. Orla Doyle, 2020. "Can Early Intervention have a Sustained Effect on Human Capital?," Working Papers 202001, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    14. James J Heckman & Ganesh Karapakula, 2021. "Using a satisficing model of experimenter decision-making to guide finite-sample inference for compromised experiments," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 24(2), pages 1-39.
    15. Bosque-Mercader, L.;, 2022. "The Effect of a Universal Preschool Programme on Long-Term Health Outcomes: Evidence from Spain," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/06, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Fletcher, Jason M. & Wolfe, Barbara, 2016. "The importance of family income in the formation and evolution of non-cognitive skills in childhood," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 143-154.
    17. Bai, Yu & Yang, Ning & Wang, Lei & Zhang, Siqi, 2022. "The impacts of maternal migration on the cognitive development of preschool-aged children left behind in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    18. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    19. Berger, Eva M. & Fehr, Ernst & Hermes, Henning & Schunk, Daniel & Winkel, Kirsten, 2020. "The Impact of Working Memory Training on Children's Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 13338, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Orla Doyle & Liam Delaney & Christine O'Farrelly & Nick Fitzpatrick & Michael Daly, 2015. "Can Early Intervention Improve Maternal Well-being? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," Working Papers 2015-015, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early childhood intervention; human capital development; randomized control trial; multiple hypotheses; permutation testing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201310. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nicolas Clifton (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/educdie.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.