News and Announcements
Build Back Better Early Childhood Provisions Rest on CEHD Research
The Build Back Better spending package passed by the House of Representatives early Nov. 19 funds free preschool and other provisions that add up to “the largest investment in child care in the nation’s history.” The economic rationale for that investment is based on a body of research from Director James J. Heckman and colleagues, including recent work by coauthors associated with CEHD.Jamaican Early Childhood Stimulation Study Shows Benefits Last Through Age 31
A group of infants and toddlers in Jamaica who received developmental stimulation—via home visits and nutritional support—continue to show benefits from this intervention as adults three decades later, according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.Marketplace cites research on intergenerational cost-benefit analysis of early childhood education
Highlighting recent research on the long-lasting benefits of the Perry Preschool Project, an American Public Radio Marketplace story made the case Investing in early childhood education is an effective way to create a more equitable society. The story cited research from Jorge Luis García, Frederik H. Bennhoff, Duncan Ermini Leaf, and James Heckman that used real life-cycle data on program participants, their siblings, and their children to produce more accurate estimates of the return on investment of such programs.Prof. Heckman’s work on the Perry Preschool Program featured in the New York Times
With free universal preschool – part of the proposed American Families Plan – “you’re creating a ladder into the middle class,” CEHD director Prof. James J. Heckman told the New York Times. The story cited the Center’s long-running research on the Perry Preschool Program that shows quality early childhood education can lead to greater earnings, higher levels of education and less criminal activity.Book Launch: ‘Jan Tinbergen and the Rise of Economic Expertise’
On Monday, June 21, Professor Heckman participated in a virtual book launch for Jan Tinbergen and the Rise of Economic Expertise, a new volume on Tinbergen, the first Nobel Prize winner in Economics, and his “crucial contribution is the theory of economic policy and the legitimation of economic expertise in service of the state.”
The data provide clear guidelines for action. American policy should acknowledge the power of the accident of birth. A child does not choose the family he or she is born into. But society can enrich the opportunities of disadvantaged children to flourish.
     – James J. Heckman

Events and Workshops
3:00-4:30pm
SHFE112 and Zoom
Lifecycle Working Group
The Lifecycle Working Group, organized by James Heckman, Steven Durlauf, and Jin Zhou, invites faculty, researchers and graduate students to present work that applies the comprehensive lifecycle approach to the study of human flourishing. The workshop takes place on Tuesdays at 1:30PM on Zoom. This interdisciplinary workshop is open to the campus research community. Learn about upcoming sessions.
November 18-19
Madison, Wisconsin
Frontiers in Economic Analysis with Genetic Data
The conference Frontiers in Genetics and Economics will take place on Thursday, November 18th and Friday, November 19th, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The conference will bring together economists interested in the potential for genetic data to contribute to broad, long-standing questions in economics. Learn more.
Current and Upcoming Visitors

Mikkel Aagaard Houmark
Visiting dates: March 21, 2022 - August 20, 2022
Mikkel Aagaard Houmark is a PhD-student at the Department of Economics and Business Economics at Aarhus University in Denmark. His research spans different areas of applied microeconometrics, with a particular focus on how genes, education and the childhood environment jointly shape the development of skills and well-being.