ScholarlyCommons

Title

Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries

Author(s)

Norbert Schady, Inter-American Development BankFollow
Jere R. Behrman, University of PennsylvaniaFollow
Maria Caridad Araujo, Inter-American Development BankFollow
Rodrigo Azuero, University of PennsylvaniaFollow
Raquel Bernal, Universidad de Los Andes - ColombiaFollow
David Bravo, Universidad de ChileFollow
Florencia Lopez-Boo, Inter-American Development BankFollow
Karen Macours, Paris School of EconomicsFollow
Daniela Marshall, University of PennsylvaniaFollow
Christina Paxson, Brown UniversityFollow
Renos Vakis, World BankFollow

Document Type

Working Paper

Date of this Version

1-17-2014

Comments

Schady, Norbert, Jere R. Behrman, Maria Caridad Araujo, Rodrigo Azuero, Raquel Bernal, David Bravo, Florencia Lopez-Boo, Karen Macours, Daniela Marshall, Christina Paxson, and Renos Vakis. 2014. "Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries" GCC Working Paper Series, GCC 14-02.

Abstract

Research from the United States shows that gaps in early cognitive and non-cognitive ability appear early in the life cycle. Little is known about this important question for developing countries. This paper provides new evidence of sharp differences in cognitive development by socioeconomic status in early childhood for five Latin American countries. To help with comparability, we use the same measure of receptive language ability for all five countries. We find important differences in development in early childhood across countries, and steep socioeconomic gradients within every country. For the three countries where we can follow children over time, there are few substantive changes in scores once children enter school. Our results are robust to different ways of defining socioeconomic status, to different ways of standardizing outcomes, and to selective non-response on our measure of cognitive development.

Acknowledgments: This research was supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Development (Grant R01-HD065436) and Grand Challenges Canada (Grant 10036540).

Keywords

Early Childhood Development, Cognitive Development, Socioeconomic Status, Latin America, Survey Data

Recommended Citation

Schady, Norbert, Jere Behrman, Maria Araujo, Rodrigo Azuero, Raquel Bernal, David Bravo, Florencia Lopez-Boo, Karen Macours, Daniela Marshall, Christina Paxson, and Renos Vakis. 2014. "Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries." Grand Challenges Canada Economic Returns to Mitigating Early Life Risks Project Working Paper Series, 2014-11. https://repository.upenn.edu/gcc_economic_returns/11.