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  • 2018
  • Working Paper

Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the Progresa Experiment

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, Theresa Molina and Jorge Tamayo
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:76
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Abstract

Can investing in children who faced adverse events in early childhood help them catch up? We answer this question using two orthogonal sources of variation – resource availability at birth (local rainfall) and cash incentives for school enrollment – to identify the interaction between early endowments and investments in children. We find that adverse rainfall in the year of birth decreases grade attainment, post-secondary enrollment, and employment outcomes. But children whose families were randomized to receive conditional cash transfers experienced a much smaller decline: each additional year of program exposure during childhood mitigated more than 20 percent of early disadvantage.

Keywords

Children; Welfare; Education; Investment; Programs

Citation

Adhvaryu, Achyuta, Anant Nyshadham, Theresa Molina, and Jorge Tamayo. "Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the Progresa Experiment." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 24848, July 2018. (Conditionally Accepted: The Economic Journal.)
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About The Author

Jorge Tamayo

Strategy
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