The Effect of Health and Poverty on Early Childhood Cognitive Development

David Welsch () and David Zimmer

Atlantic Economic Journal, 2010, vol. 38, issue 1, 37-49

Abstract: Although evidence of a link between socioeconomic status and child health has been researched extensively, much less attention has been devoted to studying the link between child health and cognitive development. This paper seeks to determine whether early childhood illnesses and poverty significantly impede cognitive development. The empirical model attempts to control for observed and unobserved heterogeneity through the use of panel data models. Results indicate that a child’s cognitive development is not directly related to health problems acquired after birth or socioeconomic standing. Rather, cognitive development is primarily influenced by unobserved child- and family-specific factors that happen to be correlated with health and socioeconomic status. On the other hand, birth weight appears to affect cognitive performance later in childhood, even after taking unobserved heterogeneity into account. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2010

Keywords: National longitudinal survey of youth; Peabody tests; Panel data; Internal instruments; I18; I32; C23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:38:y:2010:i:1:p:37-49

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DOI: 10.1007/s11293-009-9198-2

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