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

Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, Teresa Molina and Jorge Tamayo

No 24848, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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.

JEL-codes: I15 I25 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-neu and nep-ure
Note: CH DEV ED
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Published as Achyuta Adhvaryu & Teresa Molina & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge Tamayo, 2023. "Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment," The Economic Journal, vol 134(657), pages 1-22.

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Journal Article: Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment (2024)
Journal Article: Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment (2023)
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