81389 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation: a 20-Year Follow-up to the Jamaica Study Paul Gertler, Arianna Zanolini, Rodrigo Pinto, James Heckman, Susan Walker, Christel Author(s) Vermeersch, Susan Chang, Sally Grantham-McGregor Contact cvermeersch@worldbank.org Country Jamaica Organizing Theme Education and Skills, Economic opportunities and access to assets Status Completed Intervention Category Preschool Sector Education We find large effects on earnings of a randomized intervention that gave stimulation to stunted toddlers living in poverty. The intervention was a one-hour weekly visit from a community health worker over a 2-year period that taught and encouraged mothers to interact and play with their children in ways that would develop their children’s cognitive and socio-emotional skills. We re-interviewed the study participants 20 years after the Abstract intervention. We estimate that that stimulation increased average earnings by 50 percent for all workers and 63 percent for workers in full time permanent jobs, and that treatment group earnings caught-up to the earnings of a matched non-stunted comparison group. The findings show that simple socio-emotional stimulation early in childhood in disadvantaged settings can have a substantial effect on labor market outcomes and reduce inequality later in life. Gender Connection Gender Informed Analysis Gender disaggregated income, labor force participation, school attainment, cognitive skills, Gender Outcomes non-cognitive skills IE Design Randomized Control Trial Stunted children received weekly visits from community health workers who actively encouraged mothers to interact and play with their children and taught them ways that would develop cognitive and socio-emotional skills. Then within each stratum, children were sequentially assigned to one of four groups using a randomly generated seed to begin Intervention the assignment. The four groups were (1) psychosocial stimulation (N=32), nutritional supplementation (N=32), both stimulation and supplementation (N=32), and (4) a control group that received neither intervention (N=33). All of the children in the study were given access to free health care regardless of which group they were assigned. Intervention Period 1986-1987 The 1986-87 Jamaican Study enrolled 129 stunted children age 9-24 months that lived in Sample population poor disadvantaged neighborhoods of Kingston, Jamaica. Comparison conditions There were four arms to the intervention, the control group received no treatment. Last updated: 14 August 2013 1 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Unit of analysis Individual Level Evaluation Period 1986-2008 The stimulation at an early age led to an increase in earnings of 50% for all workers and 63% for workers in full time permanent jobs. The treatment group caught up with a matched non-stunted comparison group. The intervention did increase material investment Results in the child. There are also large effects on schooling, cognitive development and socio- emotional development. Overall there is no clear differences in outcomes between the genders. However, cognitive skills were significantly improved for men, but not women, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors significantly improved for only females. Primary study limitations Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund, the American Bar Foundation, The Pritzker Children's Funding Source Initiative, NICHD, the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group, Institute for New Economic Thinking, European Research Council. Gertler, P., Zanolini, A., Pinto, R., Heckman, J., Walker, S., Vermeersch, C., ... & Reference(s) Grantham-Mc-Gregor, S. (2013). Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation: a 20-Year Follow-up to the Jamaica Study. Link to Studies http://irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/142-13.pdf Microdata Last updated: 14 August 2013 2