A growing literature establishes that high-quality early childhood interventions that enrich the environments of disadvantaged children have substantial impacts on socioeconomic outcomes throughout their lives. Little is known about their benefits for health. This paper analyzes the long-term health impacts of two of the oldest and most cited U.S. early childhood interventions evaluated by the method of randomization: the Perry Preschool Program (PPP) and the Carolina Abecedarian Project (ABC). We find that children randomly assigned to the treatment group of the PPP have significantly lower prevalence of behavioral risk factors at age 40. Using recently collected biomedical data for the ABC, we find that disadvantaged children randomly assigned to treatment have significantly lower prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in their mid-30s. For both interventions, we also analyze potential mechanisms underlying these effects. The estimated treatment effects survive corrections for several statistical challenges that small sample randomized controlled trials (RCTs) face. Overall, our results show the potential of early life interventions to prevent disease and promote health.
Presented by:
Gabriella Conti (UCL) (with J. Heckman, S. Moon and R. Pinto)
Date & time:
June 16, 2014 2:00 pm - June 16, 2014 3:30 pm
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