January 2024
Article
Economic Journal

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

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Theresa Molina, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

Format:Print
| Pages:22

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; Outcome or Result; Welfare; Early Childhood Education; Weather

Citation

Adhvaryu, Achyuta, Theresa Molina, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo. "Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment." Economic Journal 134, no. 657 (January 2024): 1–22.