Age-dependent Skill Formation and Returns to Education

In this study, we try to connect the economic literature on human capital formation with findings from neurobiology and psychology on early childhood development and self-regulation. Our basic framework for assessing the distribution of agespecific returns to investment in skills is an elaboration of the model of skill formation from Cunha, Heckman et al. (2006) over the life cycle. Our simulation based evidence illustrates the cumulative and synergetic nature of skill formation, the skill multiplier and the shaping role early childhood has for human capital formation, growth and inequality. --Intelligence,self-regulation,human capital,returns to education,life span

Human capital investment strategies in Europe

The paper analyses alternative investment policies and their consequences for the evolution of human capital in Europe based on a model of age dependent skill formation where the life span depends on investments during childhood. What makes the approach special is the analysis of the returns to education of alternative educational policies targeted at certain ages, countries, or productivity levels for two counterfactual policy regimes, one regime assuming the actual state of diversity and the other a unified Europe. Our results indicate that investments need to be directed more generally to people of younger ages in Europe. If equality is important enough additional investment should specifically be directed to disadvantaged individuals during childhood. Furthermore, high levels of life cycle income inequality and a high skill level increase the optimal amount of investments during younger adulthood. In a unified Europe, the effectiveness of policies to reduce inequality would be higher. --human capital investment,life cycle skill formation,welfare function,Europe

Human capital investment strategies in Europe

The paper analyses alternative investment policies and their consequences for the evolution of human capital in Europe based on a model of age dependent skill formation where the life span depends on investments during childhood. What makes the approach special is the analysis of the returns to education of alternative educational policies targeted at certain ages, countries, or productivity levels for two counterfactual policy regimes, one regime assuming the actual state of diversity and the other a unified Europe. Our results indicate that investments need to be directed more generally to people of younger ages in Europe. If equality is important enough additional investment should specifically be directed to disadvantaged individuals during childhood. Furthermore, high levels of life cycle income inequality and a high skill level increase the optimal amount of investments during younger adulthood. In a unified Europe, the effectiveness of policies to reduce inequality would be higher

Age-dependent Skill Formation and Returns to Education

In this study, we try to connect the economic literature on human capital formation with findings from neurobiology and psychology on early childhood development and self-regulation. Our basic framework for assessing the distribution of agespecific returns to investment in skills is an elaboration of the model of skill formation from Cunha, Heckman et al. (2006) over the life cycle. Our simulation based evidence illustrates the cumulative and synergetic nature of skill formation, the skill multiplier and the shaping role early childhood has for human capital formation, growth and inequality

Intra- und intergenerationale Umverteilungseffekte in der bundesdeutschen Alterssicherung auf Basis humankapitaltheoretischer Überlegungen

In der folgenden Studie möchten wir ausgewählte Aspekte von intra- und intergenerationalen Umverteilungseffekten im System der bundesdeutschen Alterssicherung auf der Basis der Humankapitalheorie mit Simulationsmethoden analysieren. Falls es das Ziel der Politik ist, die Ungleichheit des Lebenseinkommens in einer Generation zu verringern, sind aus Kosten-Nutzen-Überlegungen bis zum Alter von 18 Jahren kompensierende Bildungsinvestitionen, im Alter danach finanzielle Transferleistungen die bessere Wahl. Bildungsinvestitionen im Vorschulalter lassen aufgrund des Fähigkeitenmultiplikators der Kindheit die größten Erträge, gemessen am Lebenseinkommen, erwarten. In der intergenerationalen Dimension könnten nach unseren Berechnungen von im Jahre 2008 eingeführten steuerfinanzierten Bildungsinvestitionen im Vorschulalter bereits die Geburtsjahrgänge ab 1975 in Form einer Zunahme ihres Lebenseinkommens profitieren

Age-dependent skill formation and returns to education: simulation based evidence

This study integrates findings from neurobiology and psychology on early childhood development and self-regulation to assess returns to education. Our framework for evaluating the distribution of age-specific returns to investments in cognitive and noncognitive skills is a lifecycle simulation model based on the technology of skill formation (Cunha and Heckman (2007)). Our findings illustrate the cumulative and synergetic nature of skill formation, the skill multiplier, and the shaping role early childhood has for human capital formation, growth and inequality

Ungleichheit und die differentiellen Erträge frühkindlicher Bildungsinvestitionen im Lebenszyklus

Um Hinweise für die Erträge von Investitionen in die Fähigkeiten von Kindern im Vorschulalter geben zu können, möchten wir in diesem Beitrag die Ergebnisse von Simulationen zur Diskussion stellen. Der Humankapitalerwerb wird als Funktion von kognitiven und nichtkognitiven Fähigkeiten modelliert, wobei die frühe Ungleichheit und die daraus resultierende Heterogenität der Erträge zusätzlicher Bildungsinvestitionen im Vordergrund stehen. Aufgrund des Fähigkeitenmultiplikators der frühen Kindheit übersteigen die zu erwartenden Erträge von Investitionen, die im richtigen Umfang und zur rechten Zeit getätigt werden, im Lebenszyklus die Kosten um ein Vielfaches. Die Abschätzungen deuten darauf hin, dass die ertragreichste Politik zur Steigerung des Humankapitals und zur Reduktion von Ungleichheit eine effiziente Familienpolitik ist

Strategien der Humankapitalbildung in Europa: Eine Wohlfahrtsanalyse

Das Zusammenwachsen Europas bietet neue Möglichkeiten für die Bildungspolitik. Dennoch existieren bislang kaum Untersuchungen zur Frage, wie eine Europäische Strategie zur Optimierung der Investitionen in die Humankapitalbildung aussehen könnte. In einem aktuellen ZEW-Diskussionspapier zeigen Friedhelm Pfeiffer und Karsten Reuß, dass eine am Lebenszyklus orientierte Bildungspolitik dazu beitragen kann, die Wohlfahrt in Europa deutlich zu steigern

Education and lifetime income during demographic transition

The paper studies the power of educational investments in relation to transfers for fostering lifetime income and for reducing income inequality in Germany. The welfare analysis is based on a model of age-dependent human capital accumulation, featuring dynamic complementarities in skill formation over the life cycle, and calibrated for the period of ongoing demographic transition until 2080. If policy aims at reducing the inequality of lifetime income among people of the same generation, educational investments for people younger than or equal to seventeen do a better job compared to transfers in adulthood. In an intergenerational perspective all cohorts born after 1976 will gain from tax-financed additional investments in preschooleducation introduced in 2011. Additional investments into secondary education will, as a rule, not cause life time income to raise enough to compensate its costs

Determinants of personality and skill development in the Socio-emotional environment during childhood

This study investigates the importance of different socio-economic conditions on skill formation by using German data from a longitudinal study, the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, starting at birth. A rich set of psychometric variables regarding the socio-emotional environment from birth until late childhood is assessed. The paper extends previous approaches by splitting up the information on the environment into several dimensions. The results could help policy makers to design educational interventions. Birth risk and the early mother-child interaction are the most important determinants in infancy. In middle childhood cognitive skills can be enhanced by parents who stimulate child play with appropriate play materials and by parental support in learning numbers, shapes or letters. Personality rather tends to be linked to a harmonious and motivational parent-child relationship, in particular a positive emotional climate and the stimulation of independence. Early investments are the most important, but should be complemented by investments in late childhood to unfold their benefits