Two Scalable Interventions to Promote Health and Mental Development in Early Childhood: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural India

Cara Ebert, Esther Heesemann and Sebastian Vollmer

Journal of Human Capital, 2024, vol. 18, issue 1, 140 - 193

Abstract: Early-childhood interventions are important for poverty reduction but difficult to target. We study two interventions in rural India for children below age 2 that are simple and easy to scale: a durable device for iron fortification at home and caregiver training in dialogic reading. Outcomes were measured blinded. When delivered together, the interventions improved receptive language skills of children who were not anemic at baseline, suggesting that health endowment complements parental investments in the production of human capital. The dialogic reading intervention further shows positive spillovers on untreated children. Overall, shorter-lived interventions are potentially effective in healthier populations.

Date: 2024
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