Improving the Early Childhood Environment: Direct and Distributional Effects on Human Capital for Multiple Generations
Presented by:
Gisella Kagy
School of Human Ecology (SoHE)
UW-Madison
Thursday, December 7, 2023
3:45 pm-5:00 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
This paper examines the long-term and intergenerational effects of improving the early childhood health environment on human capital in Bangladesh. In adulthood, children eligible for health promoting interventions exhibit increased height and reduced short stature, while males achieve higher levels of educational attainment. These finding are concentrated among individuals with the lowest pre-program health endowment, reducing inequality in human capital across generations, and underscoring the program's distributional implications. Intergenerational effects reveal daughters experienced increased height, reduced stunting, and improved cognitive outcomes. The findings suggest that failing to consider distributional and intergenerational effects of programs could lead to underinvestment in children.