Abstract
This paper develops a theory of human capital to investigate the role of early childhood health in explaining the large and persistent schooling gaps observed within and across countries. Quantitative analysis using the theory and data from 98 countries shows that early health inequalities within developingcountries strongly amplify later schooling gaps— counterfactually eliminating inequalities reduces schooling Ginis by an average of 18% in developing economies but has only mild effects in richer countries. Moreover, early health inequalities are found to be an important source of schooling variation across countries— universally equating early health to the average US level reduces the cross-country standard deviation of average schooling attainment by over 40%. Additional policy experiments reveal that the gains from early health interventions tend to be amplified by later educational investments in developing economies, while those targeting school-aged children may be limited if early health conditions are ignored.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Economics and Econometrics
Cited by
14 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Index;Natural Resources and Economic Development;2019-09-19
2. References;Natural Resources and Economic Development;2019-09-19
3. Policies for Sustainable Resource-Based Development in Poor Economies;Natural Resources and Economic Development;2019-09-19
4. Can Resource-Based Development Be Successful?;Natural Resources and Economic Development;2019-09-19
5. Rural Poverty and Resource Degradation;Natural Resources and Economic Development;2019-09-19