Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II
Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II
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DOI：
10.1257/jel.20171164
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
影响因子：
12.6
通讯作者：
Duque, Valentina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Almond, Douglas;Currie, Janet;Duque, Valentina
产前事件可以有终身的后果，现在已经得到了很好的证实。然而，关于胎儿起源假说的研究正在蓬勃发展，并已扩大到包括儿童早期（出生后）环境。为什么这些文学作品有“第二幕”？“我们总结了自2011年审查以来推动实证文献的主要主题和贡献，并试图根据关于人力资本如何在生命早期产生的总体概念框架来解释文献。一个主要的发现是，相对温和的冲击，在生命早期可能会有很大的负面影响，但影响往往是异质性的，反映在儿童禀赋，预算限制和生产技术的差异。此外，冲击、投资和干预可以以复杂的方式相互作用，而这些方式才刚刚开始被人们所理解。我们知识的许多进步是由于越来越多的综合行政数据的可访问性，使早期生活中的事件与长期结果联系起来。然而，我们仍然对这段时间的间隔知之甚少，因此也不知道在生命早期和成年期之间的某个时候识别和干预受影响的个体是否可行。然而，我们确实知道足够的信息，能够确定一些有望改善儿童早期和整个生命过程的干预措施。
That prenatal events can have life-long consequences is now well established. Nevertheless, research on the fetal origins hypothesis is flourishing and has expanded to include the early childhood (postnatal) environment. Why does this literature have a "second act?" We summarize the major themes and contributions driving the empirical literature since our 2011 reviews, and try to interpret the literature in light of an overarching conceptual framework about how human capital is produced early in life. One major finding is that relatively mild shocks in early life can have substantial negative impacts, but that the effects are often heterogeneous reflecting differences in child endowments, budget constraints, and production technologies. Moreover, shocks, investments, and interventions can interact in complex ways that are only beginning to be understood. Many advances in our knowledge are due to increasing accessibility of comprehensive administrative data that allow events in early life to be linked to long-term outcomes. Yet, we still know relatively little about the interval between, and thus about whether it would be feasible to identify and intervene with affected individuals at some point between early life and adulthood. We do know enough, however, to be able to identify some interventions that hold promise for improving child outcomes in early life and throughout the life course.