This paper examines the impact of in utero exposure to the Asian influenza pandemic of 1957 upon childhood development. Outcome data are provided by the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a panel study where all members were potentially exposed in the womb. Epidemic effects are identified using geographic variation in a surrogate measure of…

This study uses longitudinal data from South Africa to estimate the relationship between early childhood nutritional status and schooling outcomes five years later. Preferred estimates from the full sample aged zero to five, which treat prior nutritional status as endogenous, show no impact of past nutritional status on current schooling, in…

We examine the relationship between early cognitive development, socioeconomic status (SES), child health, and parenting quality in a developing country. We use a sample of more than 3,000 predominantly poor preschool-aged children from Ecuador, and analyze determinants of their scores on a widely used test of language ability. We find that…

This paper estimates models of the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills and explores the role of family environments in shaping these skills at different stages of the life cycle of the child. Central to this analysis is identification of the technology of skill formation. We estimate a dynamic factor model to solve the problem of…

A more pessimistic assessment to study the effects of maternal employment on children's learning abilities is presented. Parental investments during infancy and childhood not only result in improved cognitive development but also in overall improvement in learning abilities.

The effects of family income, parents' education, maternal employment, and family composition on the IQ scores of four- and seven-year-olds are estimated, using a sample of more than 3,000 children. The results suggest that childhood cognitive development plays a minor role in the intergenerational transmission of wealth. (Author/CT)

Children's scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were influenced by mothers' schooling, grandparents' schooling, and family size. Increases in mothers' working hours negatively affected children's achievement. Welfare dependence reduced test scores, largely due to transmission of an underclass heritage of low achievement. (Author/SK)

This article reports the findings of a research project on public and private high schools in the United States. The principal researchers found that Catholic schools and non-Catholic private schools are more effective than public schools in helping students to acquire cognitive skills. (SSH)

In this paper, we examine the effect of income on child development in the United States and the United Kingdom, as measured by scores on cognitive, behavioral, and social assessments. In line with previous results for the United States, we find that for both countries income generally has an effect on child development that is positive and…