Encouraging parents to invest: A randomized trial with two simple interventions in early childhood

Cara Ebert, Esther Heesemann and Sebastian Vollmer

No 856, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: The lottery of birth draws some children into deprived environments and others into environments where they thrive. In a field experiment in rural India with 10-20 months old children we test two scalable interventions to reduce early disadvantages in health and mental development. We distribute a durable device for home iron fortification of meals, called the Lucky Iron Leaf, and picture books together with a training for caregivers in dialogic reading. We find no significant average impact of either intervention on anemia or mental development. However, we find a cross-productivity of children's baseline health and the interventions' effectiveness. Children, who are non-anemic at baseline, improve in receptive language skills by half a standard deviation one year after implementation.

Keywords: early childhood; parental investment; nutrition; health behavior; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 I12 I15 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:856

DOI: 10.4419/86788992

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