Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico

We estimate semiparametrically the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades on the time mothers and older sisters spend taking care of children aged under 3, using the randomization of a program placement and the methodology in Lewbel (2000). Results support the existence of substitution effects: mothers in treatment households are more likely to substitute for their older daughters’ time to child care. As a result, daughters devote more time to schooling and less taking care of their younger siblings. Overall, total household time allocated to child care increases. These findings indicate that Oportunidades not only fosters human capital accumulation through keeping teenage girls in school but also through more and arguably better (mother provided) child care.

Investing cash transfers to raise long term living standards

The authors test whether poor households use cash transfers to invest in income generating activities that they otherwise would not have been able to do. Using data from a controlled randomized experiment, they find that transfers from the Oportunidades program to households in rural Mexico resulted in increased investment in micro-enterprise and agricultural activities. For each peso transferred, beneficiary households used 88 cents to purchase consumption goods and services, and invested the rest. The investments improved the household's ability to generate income with an estimated rate of return of 17.55 percent, suggesting that these households were both liquidity and credit constrained. By investing transfers to raise income, beneficiary households were able to increase their consumption by 34 percent after five and a half years in the program. The results suggest that cash transfers to the poor may raise long-term living standards, which are maintained after program benefits end.Economic Theory&Research,Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping,Municipal Housing and Land,Land and Real Estate Development,Real Estate Development

Empowering parents to improve education : evidence from rural Mexico

Mexico's compensatory education program provides extra resources to primary schools that enroll disadvantaged students in highly disadvantaged rural communities. One of the most important components of the program is the school-based management intervention known as AGEs. The impact of the AGEs is assessed on intermediate school quality indicators (failure, repetition and dropout), controlling for the presence of the conditional cash transfer program. Results prove that school-based management is an effective measure for improving outcomes, based on an over time difference-in-difference evaluation. Complementary qualitative evidence corroborates the veracity of such findings.Tertiary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Disability,Economics of Education

Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico

We estimate semiparametrically the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades on the time mothers and older sisters spend taking care of children aged under 3, using the randomization of a program placement and the methodology in Lewbel (2000). Results support the existence of substitution effects: mothers in treatment households are more likely to substitute for their older daughters’ time to child care. As a result, daughters devote more time to schooling and less taking care of their younger siblings. Overall, total household time allocated to child care increases. These findings indicate that Oportunidades not only fosters human capital accumulation through keeping teenage girls in school but also through more and arguably better (mother provided) child care

Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico

We estimate semiparametrically the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades on the time mothers and older sisters spend taking care of children aged under 3, using the randomization of a program placement and the methodology in Lewbel (2000). Results support the existence of substitution effects: mothers in treatment households are more likely to substitute for their older daughters’ time to child care. As a result, daughters devote more time to schooling and less taking care of their younger siblings. Overall, total household time allocated to child care increases. These findings indicate that Oportunidades not only fosters human capital accumulation through keeping teenage girls in school but also through more and arguably better (mother provided) child care

Mediating pathways in the socio-economic gradient of child development: Evidence from children 6-42 months in Bogota

Research has previously shown a gap of near 0.5 of a standard deviation (SD) in cognition and language development between the top and bottom household wealth quartile in children aged 6–42 months in a large representative sample of low- and middle-income families in Bogota, using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. The gaps in fine motor and socio-emotional development were about half that size. Developmental deficits increased with age. The current study explored the associations amongst child development, household socio-economic status (SES), and a set of potential mediating variables—parental characteristics, child biomedical factors, and the quality of the home environment—in this sample. We ran mediation tests to quantify the contribution of these variables to the SES gap, and explored the role of age as a moderator. Parental education, particularly maternal education, and the quality of the home environment mediated the SES gap in all outcomes examined. Height-for-age mediated a small amount of the deficit in language scales only. More educated mothers provided better home stimulation than less educated mothers and the home environment partly mediated the effect of maternal education. These results suggested that in interventions aimed at promoting child development, those focusing on the quality of the home environment should be effective

Estimating the Production Function for Human Capital: Results from a Randomized Control Trial in Colombia

We examine the channels through which a randomized early childhood intervention in Colombia led to significant gains in cognitive and socio-emotional skills among a sample of disadvantaged children. We estimate production functions for cognitive and socio-emotional skills as a function of maternal skills and child’s past skills, as well as material and time investments that are treated as endogenous. The effects of the program can be fully explained by increases in parental investments, which have strong effects on outcomes and are complementary to both maternal skills and child’s past skills

Validez concurrente y viabilidad de pruebas cortas comúnmente usadas para medir el desarrollo infantil temprano en estudios a gran escala: Metodología y resultados

Medir el desarrollo infantil temprano (DIT) mediante pruebas estándar de diagnóstico en estudios a gran escala resulta difícil y costoso. Por esto, con frecuencia se utilizan pruebas de tamizaje multidimensionales y pruebas que miden un solo dominio del desarrollo como alternativas (nos referimos a ellas como 'pruebas cortas'). La validez de las pruebas cortas en estos contextos es desconocida. En este estudio, analizamos la viabilidad, confiabilidad y validez concurrente de algunas de estas pruebas cortas de uso habitual, incluyendo tres pruebas de tamizaje multidimensionales-los Cuestionarios de Edades y Etapas, la Prueba de Tamizaje del Desarrollo de Denver, el Inventario del Desarrollo de Battelle -y dos pruebas que miden un solo dominio del desarrollo- la versión abreviada de MacArthur-Bates y los Hitos del Desarrollo Motor-en 1.311 niños y niñas de 6 a 42 meses en Bogotá, Colombia. Comparamos las puntuaciones obtenidas en estas pruebas cortas con las de las Escalas Bayley de Desarrollo Infantil, prueba que consideramos nuestro patrón de referencia. El Bayley se implementó en un centro por psicólogos, mientras que las pruebas cortas se realizaron en los hogares por encuestadores, tal y como se administrarían en una encuesta de hogar. La validez concurrente de las escalas cognitivas, de lenguaje y de motricidad fina de las pruebas multidimensionales con la escala correspondiente en el Bayley es baja en niños menores de 19 meses, si bien aumenta con la edad convirtiéndose en moderada a alta a partir de los 30 meses. En cambio, la concurrencia de las escalas de motricidad gruesa es alta en menores de 19 meses y disminuye a partir de esta edad. Con respecto a las pruebas que miden un solo dominio del desarrollo, los Hitos del Desarrollo Motor presentan un alto grado de validez con la motricidad gruesa en niños menores de 16 meses, y las escalas de lenguaje expresivo de la versión abreviada de MacArthur-Bates muestran una correlación moderada con el lenguaje en menores de 30 meses. Por dominio del desarrollo, la motricidad gruesa presenta el grado de validez más alto en menores de 19 meses, mientras que en niños de más de 19 meses, el desarrollo del lenguaje es el dominio que obtiene concurrencias mayores.In low- and middle-income countries (LIMCs) measuring early childhood development (ECD) with standard tests in large scale surveys (i.e. evaluations of interventions) is difficult and expensive. Multi-dimensional screeners and single-domain tests ('short tests') are frequently used as alternatives. However, their validity in these circumstances is unknown. We examine the feasibility, reliability, and concurrent validity of three multi-dimensional screeners -the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3), the Denver Developmental Screening Test (Denver-II), the Battelle Developmental Inventory screener (BDI-2) -and two single-domain tests- the MacArthur-Bates Short-Forms (SFI and SFII) and the WHO Motor Milestones (WHO-Motor)-in 1,311 children 6-42 months in Bogota, Colombia. We compare scores on these short tests to those on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III), which we take as the 'gold standard'. The Bayley-III was given at a center by psychologists; whereas the short tests were administered in the home by interviewers, as in a survey setting. Concurrent validity of the multi-dimensional tests' cognitive, language, and fine motor scales with the corresponding Bayley-III scale is low below 19 months but increases with age, becoming moderate-to-high over 30 months. In contrast, gross motor scales' concurrence is high under 19 months and then decreases. Of the single-domain tests, the WHO-Motor has high validity with gross motor under 16 months, and the SFI and SFII expressive scales show moderate correlations with language under 30 months. Overall, the Denver-II seems the most feasible and valid multi-dimensional test and the ASQ-3 performs poorly under 31 months. By domain, gross motor development has the highest concurrence below 19 months, and language above. Results do not vary by household socio-economic status. Predictive validity investigation is nonetheless needed to further guide the choice of instruments for large scale studies