The Center for the Economics of Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Chicago is actively seeking Post-Doctoral Scholars interested in the economics of creating and measuring skills. Scholars are expected to conduct empirical collaborative work on one (or more) focused projects. Descriptions for past and ongoing projects can be found on the Center’s website. Scholars can propose new independent research projects consistent with the Center’s broad aims.
The Perry Preschool program was an early childhood intervention, consisting of 123 (half treatment and half control) high-risk children, living in Ypsilanti, Michigan during the early 1960s. For two years, beginning at age three, treated children attended a daily preschool program on weekdays, and received weekly home visits from teachers. Both the preschool and home visits were aimed at fostering child development through active learning, which encouraged children to plan, carry out, and reflect on their own activities through a plan-do-review process. Study participants, both treated and control, were followed up at regular intervals to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. This project presents a cost/benefit analysis of the program, using data collected at all follow-ups including the most recent age-50 interviews. This study builds on previous work evaluating the costs and benefits of the Perry Preschool Program (Heckman et. al., 2009). In this study we incorporate data from the most recent age-50 follow-up to evaluate the effect of the Perry Preschool Program on a variety of life-cycle outcomes including crime, health, earnings, and education. We also examine the outcomes of the participants’ children, many of which are already in their 30s.
CEHD Director James J. Heckman has been tapped to join Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker’s transition committee on education. The transition team was announced on November 27 at the Genevieve Melody STEM Elementary School in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Avner Seror will speak at the Center’s Lifecycle Working group on October 30th at 5:15PM in CEHD rm. 180 in Saieh Hall about Parental Rearing Practices, Cultural Transmission and Cognitive Development. About the Speaker: Avner Seror is research associate at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy. His research focuses on the joint evolution of institutions and cultural norms, political economy and human development. He graduated with a Ph.D in economics from the Paris School of Economics in 2018. Abstract: This paper presents a theory of child development and parental rearing practices. In the model, a benevolent parent seeks to transmit cultural norms to her child, who acquires cognitive skills and develops a capital of appreciation for adopting behaviors that accord with these norms. Our cultural perspective on the issue of cognitive development provides an interpretation grid for various results established in the empirical literature. It also permits to identify the parental characteristics that are conducive to various parenting styles, to child neglect and to child maltreatment.