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Special Perspectives

Skill Formation and the Economics of Investing in Disadvantaged Children

Science
30 Jun 2006
Vol 312, Issue 5782
pp. 1900-1902

Abstract

This paper summarizes evidence on the effects of early environments on child, adolescent, and adult achievement. Life cycle skill formation is a dynamic process in which early inputs strongly affect the productivity of later inputs.

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References and Notes

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This paper was generously supported by NSF (grant nos. SES-0241858 and SES-0099195), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH grant no. R01HD043411), funding from the Committee for Economic Development, with a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and from the Partnership for America's Economic Success. This research was also supported by the Children's Initiative project at the Pritzker Family Foundation and a grant from the Report to the Nation of America's Promise. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the sponsoring organizations. See our Web site (http://jenni.uchicago.edu/econ_neurosci) for more information.

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Published In

Science
Volume 312 | Issue 5782
30 June 2006

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Published in print: 30 June 2006

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James J. Heckman
Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Department of Economics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.

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