Labor market returns to an early childhood stimulation intervention in Jamaica

Abstract

Help as hungry children helps young adults Supporters of early childhood interventions follow the rule “better early than late,” but so far there's been limited evidence that the rule applies to disadvantaged children in developing countries. Gertler et al. looked at the earnings of young adults in Jamaica, 20 years after, as toddlers, they were given 2 years of help from community health workers. The earnings of the treatment group caught up to those of a comparison group of well-fed children, but the control group of undernourished children that did not receive the health worker visits has lagged behind. Science , this issue p. 998