The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children
Abstract
T his article presents the case for investing more in young American children who grow up in disadvantaged environments.Figure 1 graphs time series of alternative measures of the percentage of children in disadvantaged families.The percentage of children born into, or living in, nontraditional families has increased greatly in the past thirty years. 1,2 Approximately 25% of children are now born into single parent homes.While the percentages of children living in poverty and born into poor families have fallen recently, they are still high, especially among certain subgroups.Adverse environments place children at risk for social and economic failure.The accident of birth plays a powerful role in determining adult success. 3 Many have commented on this phenomenon, and most analyses have cast the issue of assisting children from disadvantaged families as a question of fairness or social justice.This article makes a different argument.We argue that, on productivity grounds, it makes sense to invest in young children from disadvantaged environments.Substantial evidence shows that these children are more likely to commit crime, have out-of-wedlock births, and drop out of school.Early interventions that partially remediate the effects of adverse environments can reverse some of the harm of disadvantage and have a high economic return.They benefit not only the children themselves, but also their children, as well as society at large.Investing in disadvantaged young children is a rare public policy with no equity-efficiency tradeoff.It reduces the inequality associated with the accident of birth and at the same time raises the productivity of society at large.
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Complex skills emerge as earlier skills are integrated into an inclusive whole.
“complex skills emerging as earlier skills are integrated into an inclusive whole”
From Malleability, plasticity, and individuality: How children learn and develop in context<sup>1</sup> (2019) · cites this paper as Heckman & Masterov, 2007
Cites
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“Consistent with the notion that “skills beget skills” (Heckman & Masterov, 2007, p. 447), the web metaphor recognizes the interdependent, hierarchical character of skill construction, with complex skills emerging as earlier skills are integrated into an inclusive whole.”
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“In line with the setup developed here, Carneiro and Heckman (2003), Heckman and Masterov (2007), and Cunha et al. (2006) show that parents have a crucial impact on the acquisition of both cognitive and noncognitive skills, in part through transmission of their own skills and in part through their engagement and intera…”
MethodInfluential
- Authors
- Heckman, J. J., & Masterov, D. V.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Heckman, James J.
- Venue
- Review of Agricultural Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-09
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 446-493
- ISSN
- 1058-7195 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9353
- OpenAlex
- W1837190689
- Cited by
- 1,217
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 137 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 82 · 2018: 55 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 101 · 2015: 64 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 81 · 2012: 67
- FWCI
- 88.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Review of Agricultural Economics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Growth and Productivity
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
- Keywords
- early childhood investment, productivity, child development, human capital
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