Parental Investments and Intra-household Inequality in Child Human Capital: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment

Giannola, Michele

doi:10.1920/wp.ifs.2022.2822

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…reinforced endowment increases by making health investments in children who were exposed to the campaign while in utero", a finding in accordance with those in Giannola (2021). Using data on twins from China, Yi et al (2015) argue instead that the family acts as a net equaliser in response to early health shocks across children.…”

Section: Parental Tastes and Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…26 In a recent paper, Giannola (2021) combines data from a survey collecting data on parental investments and parental beliefs with data from a lab in the field experiment in India showing that parents do not seem to have a strong taste for equality in outcomes among siblings. and interpret the evidence through the lens of the economic framework underpinning the article.…”

Section: Informational Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early Childhood Development, Human Capital, and Poverty

2022

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Children's experiences during early childhood are critical for their cognitive and socioemotional development, two key dimensions of human capital. However, children from low-income backgrounds often grow up lacking stimulation and basic investments, which leads to developmental deficits that are difficult, if not impossible, to reverse later in life without intervention. The existence of these deficits is a key driver of inequality and contributes to the intergenerational transmission of poverty. In this article, we discuss the framework used in economics to model parental investments and early childhood development and use it as an organizing tool to review some of the empirical evidence on early childhood research. We then present results from various important early childhoods interventions, with an emphasis on developing countries. Bringing these elements together, we draw conclusions on what we have learned and provide some directions for future research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Economics, Volume 14 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Section: Parental Tastes and Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Informational Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Childhood Development, Human Capital, and Poverty

2022

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“…As children grow older, it might seem that they are more independent or need less supervision, women reallocate their time to income generation activities or take time for themselves, for their own well-being (36). Levels of parental investment have been shown to be positively correlated with parents' beliefs about the productivity of those inputs and/or the return on the level of investment (37). Thus, it is worthwhile to formally explore the role that beliefs and norms may play in ECD through the process evaluation of implemented programmes (31).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal time investment in caregiving activities to promote early childhood development: evidence from rural India

et al. 2023

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IntroductionIntervention strategies that seek to improve early childhood development outcomes are often targeted at the primary caregivers of children, usually mothers. The interventions require mothers to assimilate new information and then act upon it by allocating sufficient physical resources and time to adopt and perform development promoting behaviours. However, women face many competing demands on their resources and time, returning to familiar habits and behaviours. In this study, we explore mothers' allocation of time for caregiving activities for children under the age of 2, nested within a cluster randomised controlled trial of a nutrition and care for development intervention in rural Haryana, India.MethodsWe collected quantitative maternal time use data at two time points in rural Haryana, India, using a bespoke survey instrument. Data were collected from 704 mothers when their child was 12 months old, and 603 mothers when their child was 18 months old. We tested for significant differences in time spent by mothers on different activities when children are 12 months of age vs. 18 months of age between arms as well as over time, using linear regression. As these data were collected within a randomised controlled trial, we adjusted for clusters using random effects when testing for significant differences between the two time points.ResultsAt both time points, no statistically significant difference in maternal time use was found between arms. On average, mothers spent most of their waking time on household chores (over 6 h and 30 min) at both time points. When children were aged 12 months, approximately three and a half hours were spent on childcare activities for children under the age of 2 years. When children were 18 months old, mothers spent more time on income generating activities (30 min) than when the children were 12 years old, and on leisure (approximately 4 h and 30 min). When children were 18 months old, less time was spent on feeding/breastfeeding children (30 min less) and playing with children (15 min). However, mothers spent more time talking or reading to children at 18 months than at 12 months.ConclusionWe find that within a relatively short period of time in early childhood, maternal (or caregiver) time use can change, with time allocation being diverted away from childcare activities to others. This suggests that changing maternal time allocation in resource poor households may be quite challenging, and not allow the uptake of new and/or optimal behaviours.

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“…The visits can also reinforce the message on complementarities in investments in stimulation and nutrition which, our analysis suggests, is a key mechanism. This offers concrete directions for new research that can further experiment with the design of such programs with emphasis on understanding parental beliefs about the human capital production function (Cunha et al, 2013;Attanasio et al, 2020;Giannola, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%