The First 2,000 Days and Child Skills
通过随机实验，研究了从怀孕到5岁持续育儿投资对爱尔兰弱势家庭儿童认知和社会情感技能的影响，发现能显著提升技能并缩小社会经济差距。
Using a randomized experiment, this study investigates the impact of sustained investment in parenting, from pregnancy until age 5, in the context of extensive welfare provision. Providing the Preparing for Life program, incorporating home visiting, group parenting, and baby massage, to disadvantaged Irish families raised children’s cognitive and socioemotional/behavioral scores by two-thirds and one-quarter of a standard deviation, respectively. There were few differential effects by gender and stronger gains for firstborns and lower-resource households. The program also narrowed the socioeconomic gap in children’s skills. Analyses account for small sample size, differential attrition, multiple testing, contamination, and performance bias.