The first 1000 days and beyond: The process of child development

Orazio Attanasio

No 34651, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper reviews recent developments in the economics of human development, focusing on the early years of life as a critical period for shaping long-term outcomes. Early childhood development is inherently multidimensional: cognitive and socioemotional skills evolve dynamically and interact with health, nutrition, and environmental influences. Economists have contributed to this field by providing a conceptual unifying framework that highlights how key drivers of development reflect the choices of individuals operating under incentives and constraints. Within this framework, the paper emphasizes two central challenges: understanding the interactions among multiple dimensions of development and identifying causal links - particularly the effects of different inputs at different ages. Measurement issues are a recurring theme, given the difficulty of assessing young children and the need for comparability across contexts. The paper also stresses these issues’ policy relevance for poverty reduction and social mobility by discussing early childhood interventions in both developed and developing countries.

JEL-codes: D1 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
Note: CH EFG
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w34651.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34651

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w34651
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().