儿童早期发展、人力资本与贫困
Early Childhood Development, Human Capital, and Poverty
Annual Review of Economics · 2022 · [{"name": "Orazio Attanasio", "affiliation": ["National Bureau of Economic Research", "Institute for Fiscal Studies", "Yale University", "Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab", "Norwegian School of Economics"]}, {"name": "Sarah Cattan", "affiliation": ["Institute for Fiscal Studies", "IZA - Institute of Labor Economics"]}, {"name": "Costas Meghir", "affiliation": ["National Bureau of Economic Research", "Institute for Fiscal Studies", "IZA - Institute of Labor Economics", "Yale University", "Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab"]}]
中文摘要
儿童在幼儿期的经历对其认知和社会情感发展至关重要，而这两者正是人力资本的两个关键维度。然而，低收入背景的儿童往往在缺乏刺激和基本投资的环境中成长，这会导致发展缺陷；若无干预，这些缺陷在日后很难甚至不可能逆转。这些缺陷的存在是造成不平等的关键驱动因素，并助长了贫困的代际传递。本文讨论经济学中用于建模父母投资与幼儿发展的框架，并以此作为组织工具，回顾幼儿研究中的部分实证证据。随后，我们展示了若干重要幼儿干预措施的结果，重点关注发展中国家。综合这些要素，我们就已有认识得出结论，并为未来研究提供一些方向。
Abstract
Children's experiences during early childhood are critical for their cognitive and socioemotional development, two key dimensions of human capital. However, children from low-income backgrounds often grow up lacking stimulation and basic investments, which leads to developmental deficits that are difficult, if not impossible, to reverse later in life without intervention. The existence of these deficits is a key driver of inequality and contributes to the intergenerational transmission of poverty. In this article, we discuss the framework used in economics to model parental investments and early childhood development and use it as an organizing tool to review some of the empirical evidence on early childhood research. We then present results from various important early childhood interventions, with an emphasis on developing countries. Bringing these elements together, we draw conclusions on what we have learned and provide some directions for future research.