[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rug/rugwps/13-840.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Distributional effects of OPORTUNIDADES on early child development

Author

Listed:
  • J. L. FIGUEROA
Abstract
Adequate health, nutrition, and education during childhood are essential for human development. Deficits in these realms undermine the capacity to acquire the necessary skills to perform in life. Social policies addressing the causes of disadvantages in child development take up an important place in the social agenda. The Mexican Oportunidades program is such a policy. Investments in children’s health, nutrition, and education by the program are expected to facilitate children’s development. Previous studies found little effect of Oportunidades on child’s cognition and positive effects on noncognitve development. However, the majority of these studies take the average outcome as the relevant indicator of the effect of the program which overlooks the effect on the “non-average” child. A methodology capable of unveiling effects along the outcome’s distribution is proposed here. Such methodology, originally proposed by Davidson and Duclos (2013), is based on tests of stochastic dominance and is suitable for observing effects beyond the mean. Four indicators of cognitive development and one of behavioral problems (noncognitve development) are analyzed in a sample of 2,595 children aged 2 to 6 years. The sample was collected in rural communities in Mexico in 2003 as part of the evaluation of the program. Oportunidades decreases behavioral problems experienced by children exposed to the program. The ranges where the effect is found cover a large part of the distribution of the outcomes and a large proportion of the children in the sample. In comparison to other studies, additional effects by gender and ethnicity are now found. Only one indicator of cognitive development (short-term memory) shows positive effects. Nevertheless, the results for this indicator show that children with lower values of cognitive development benefitted from the program while children with higher values did not. These heterogeneous effects highlight the importance of going beyond the average effect approach.

Suggested Citation

  • J. L. Figueroa, 2013. "Distributional effects of OPORTUNIDADES on early child development," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 13/840, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:13/840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wps-feb.ugent.be/Papers/wp_13_840.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen Macours & Norbert Schady & Renos Vakis, 2012. "Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 247-273, April.
    2. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton%20instruments%20of%20development%20keynes%20lecture%202009 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:4134 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Angus Deaton, 2009. "Instruments of development: Randomization in the tropics, and the search for the elusive keys to economic development," Working Papers 1128, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    5. Russell Davidson & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2013. "Testing for Restricted Stochastic Dominance," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 84-125, January.
    6. repec:idb:brikps:publication-detail,7101.html?id=32886 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2009. "Alternative Approaches to Evaluation in Empirical Microeconomics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    8. Karen Macours & Norbert Schady & Renos Vakis, 2012. "Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 247-273, April.
    9. James J. Heckman & Jeffrey Smith & Nancy Clements, 1997. "Making The Most Out Of Programme Evaluations and Social Experiments: Accounting For Heterogeneity in Programme Impacts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 487-535.
    10. Naschold, Felix & Barrett, Christopher B., 2010. "A stochastic dominance approach to program evaluation with an application to child nutritional status in arid and semi-arid Kenya," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 62013, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Christina Paxson & Norbert Schady, 2007. "Cognitive Development among Young Children in Ecuador: The Roles of Wealth, Health, and Parenting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    12. Heckman, James J. & Kautz, Tim, 2012. "Hard evidence on soft skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 451-464.
    13. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton%20instruments%20of%20development%20keynes%20lecture%202009.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2008. "Formulating, Identifying and Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    15. Gabriella Conti & James Heckman & Sergio Urzua, 2010. "The Education-Health Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 234-238, May.
    16. Andreas Schick & Richard H. Steckel, 2010. "Height as a Proxy for Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Ability," NBER Working Papers 16570, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Djebbari, Habiba & Smith, Jeffrey, 2008. "Heterogeneous impacts in PROGRESA," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 64-80, July.
    18. James J. Heckman, 2007. "The Economics, Technology and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation," NBER Working Papers 13195, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Paolo Verme, 2010. "Stochastic Dominance, Poverty and the Treatment Effect Curve," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(1), pages 365-373.
    20. Duc, Le Thuc, 2011. "Height and Cognitive Achievement of Vietnamese Children," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2211-2220.
    21. repec:pri:rpdevs:instruments_of_development.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Figueroa, José Luis, 2014. "Distributional effects of Oportunidades on early child development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 42-49.
    2. Dirk Van de gaer & Joost Vandenbossche & José Luis Figueroa, 2014. "Children's Health Opportunities and Project Evaluation: Mexico's Oportunidades Program," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 282-310.
    3. Guido Neidhöfer & Miguel Niño‐Zarazúa, 2019. "The Long(er)‐Term Impacts of Chile Solidario on Human Capital and Labor Income," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 209-244, December.
    4. Guido Neidhöfer & Miguel Niño‐Zarazúa, 2019. "The Long(er)‐Term Impacts of Chile Solidario on Human Capital and Labor Income," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 209-244, December.
    5. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    6. Marta Favara & Catherine Porter & Tassew Woldehanna, 2019. "Smarter through social protection? Evaluating the impact of Ethiopia’s safety-net on child cognitive abilities," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 79-96, January.
    7. Macours, Karen & Vakis, Renos, 2010. "Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 857-869, June.
    8. Tia Palermo & Sudhanshu Handa & Amber Peterman & Leah Prencipe & David Seidenfeld, 2016. "Unconditional government social cash transfer in Africa does not increase fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1083-1111, October.
    9. M. Caridad Araujo & Mariano Bosch & Norbert Schady, 2017. "Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Intergenerational Poverty Trap?," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Poverty Traps, pages 357-382, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Norbert Schady & Jere Behrman & Maria Caridad Araujo & Rodrigo Azuero & Raquel Bernal & David Bravo & Florencia Lopez-Boo & Karen Macours & Daniela Marshall & Christina Paxson & Renos Vakis, 2015. "Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 446-463.
    11. Gustavo Yamada & Pablo Lavado & Ana Paula Franco & Emilia Abusada, 2016. "First impressions matter for life: the contribution of skills for the firt job," Working Papers 16-13, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    12. Jörg Peters & Jörg Langbein & Gareth Roberts, 2018. "Generalization in the Tropics – Development Policy, Randomized Controlled Trials, and External Validity," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(1), pages 34-64.
    13. Heckman, James J. & Humphries, John Eric & Veramendi, Gregory & Urzua, Sergio, 2014. "Education, Health and Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 8027, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. El-Kogali,Safaa El Tayeb & Krafft,Caroline Gould & Abdelkhalek,Touhami & Benkassmi,Mohamed & Chavez,Monica I. & Bassett,Lucy Katherine & Ejjanoui,Fouzia & El-Kogali,Safaa El Tayeb & Krafft,Caroline Go, 2016. "Inequality of opportunity in early childhood development in Morocco over time," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7670, The World Bank.
    15. Rivera, Luis & Rojas-Romagosa, Hugo, 2009. "Human Capital Formation and the Linkage between Trade and Poverty: The Cases of Costa Rica and Nicaragua," Conference papers 331887, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    16. Barrera,Oscar & Macours,Karen & Premand,Patrick & Vakis,Renos, 2020. "Texting Parents about Early Child Development : Behavioral Changes and Unintended Social Effects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9492, The World Bank.
    17. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Barbier, Edward B., 2022. "Long-term impacts of the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Juan F. Castro, 2020. "Revisiting the contribution of schools to cognitive gaps: Evidence from Peru," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1256-1278, November.
    19. Marta Rubio Codina & Pierre Dubois, 2012. "Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 105-106, pages 155-184.
    20. Premand, Patrick & Barry, Oumar, 2022. "Behavioral change promotion, cash transfers and early childhood development: Experimental evidence from a government program in a low-income setting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child development; Oportunidades; Distributional effects; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:13/840. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nathalie Verhaeghe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ferugbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.