Can Early Intervention Have a Sustained Effect on Human Capital?
基于一项随机试验，研究了从孕期到五岁的家访育儿项目“准备生活”对九岁儿童认知能力和学业成绩的影响，发现显著效果但未影响社会情感技能。
Many early intervention studies experience a dissolution of treatment effects in the aftermath of the intervention. Using a randomized trial, this paper examines the impact of Preparing for Life, a pregnancy to age five home visiting and parenting program, on outcomes in middle childhood. I find significant treatment effects on cognitive skills (0.55SD) and school achievement tests (0.30-0.54SD) at age nine. There is no impact on socio-emotional skills and there is little evidence of treatment heterogeneity by gender, birth order, or distribution of ability. The effects are mainly driven by improvements in early parental beliefs.