Orazio Attanasio - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Orazio Attanasio

The Institute of Fiscal Studies, …, 2005

Familias en Acción (FA) is a welfare programme that was designed to enrich a number of constituen... more Familias en Acción (FA) is a welfare programme that was designed to enrich a number of constituents of human capital. The targeted components include health, nutrition and education, and the targeted population comprises individuals living in the poorest 20% of households in selected ...

Journal of Development Economics

We present evidence from a randomized experiment testing the impacts of a six-month early childho... more We present evidence from a randomized experiment testing the impacts of a six-month early childhood home-visiting program on child outcomes at school entry. Two and a half years after completion of the program, we find persistent effects on child working memory-a key skill of executive functioning that plays a central role in children's development of cognitive and socio-emotional skills. We also find that the program had persistent effects on parental time investments and preschool enrolment decisions. Children were enrolled earlier and in higher quality preschools, the latter reflecting a shift in preferences over preschool attributes toward quality. Our findings imply an important role for the availability of high-quality subsequent schooling in sustaining the impacts of early intervention programs.

This study examines the impact of publicly provided daycare for children age 0-3 on subsequent ch... more This study examines the impact of publicly provided daycare for children age 0-3 on subsequent child development and household outcomes over the course of seven years after daycare enrollment. The city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil used a lottery to assign children to limited public daycare openings. Winning the lottery translated to one additional semester of daycare center attendance. Incomes for beneficiary households and labor force participation for the primary caregiver were significantly higher in the first year of daycare attendance and four years later. Labor force participation also rose for siblings and grandparents in the household; grandparents were 20 percentage points more likely to be employed four years after enrollment. Beneficiary children had improved height-for-age and weight-for-age, and both of these impacts persisted seven years after enrollment. There were also gains in the cognitive development of children four years after daycare enrolment, but they fade ove...

This report presents the main findings of the project "Improving early childhood development in r... more This report presents the main findings of the project "Improving early childhood development in rural Ghana through scalable low-cost community-run play schemes''. The project is run in collaboration between The Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK), Lively Minds (UK, Ghana) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA, Ghana), and is funded by the Jacobs Foundation and Global Innovation Fund (GIF). The views expressed in this report are, however, those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders or of other individuals or institutions mentioned here, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which has no corporate view. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation of results. Data was collected in collaboration with IPA. IPA bears no responsibility for the interpretation of the data in this report. All respondents agreed to participate in the surveys, and were assured of the confidentiality of any identifying information gathered.

The Economic Journal, 2020

A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development (ECD)... more A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development (ECD) programmes at scale is whether these programmes can be effectively delivered through existing public service infrastructures. We present the results of a randomised experiment evaluating the effects of a home-based parenting programme delivered by cadres in China’s Family Planning Commission (FPC)—the former enforcers of the one-child policy. We find that the programme significantly increased infant skill development after six months and that increased investments by caregivers alongside improvements in parenting skills were a major mechanism through which this occurred. Children who lagged behind in their cognitive development and received little parental investment at the onset of the intervention benefited most from the programme. Household participation in the programme was associated with the degree to which participants had a favourable view of the FPC, which also increased due to...

Pediatrics, 2020

OBJECTIVES: Poor early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries is a major publi... more OBJECTIVES: Poor early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries is a major public health problem. Efficacy trials have shown the potential of early childhood development interventions but scaling up is costly and challenging. Guidance on effective interventions’ delivery is needed. In an open-label cluster-randomized control trial, we compared the effectiveness of weekly home visits and weekly mother-child group sessions. Both included nutritional education, whose effectiveness was tested separately. METHODS: In Odisha, India, 192 villages were randomly assigned to control, nutritional education, nutritional education and home visiting, or nutritional education and group sessions. Mothers with children aged 7 to 16 months were enrolled (n = 1449). Trained local women ran the two-year interventions, which comprised demonstrations and interactions and targeted improved play and nutrition. Primary outcomes, measured at baseline, midline (12 months), and endline (24 mon...

We are grateful to many colleagues for a number of conversations. In particular, we would like to... more We are grateful to many colleagues for a number of conversations. In particular, we would like to thank Sarah Cattan, Costas Meghir and Emily Nix for useful discussions on measuring child development at different ages. We would also like to thank AEIOTU's staff for the support. Attanasio's research was partially funded by ERC Advanced Grant AdG-695300. Bernal and Nores are also grateful to the Jacobs Foundation, Grant No. 209-805-1, and the UBS Optimus Foundation for their financial support to the aeioTu Longitudinal Trial. Bernal acknowledges financial support from "Convocatoria Facultad de Economía-Vicerrectoría de Investigaciones 2017" Universidad de los Andes. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research At least one co-author has disclosed a financial relationship of potential relevance for this research. Further information is available online at http://www.nber.org/papers/w27812.ack NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2019

BackgroundAn estimated 63.4 million Indian children under 5 years are at risk of poor development... more BackgroundAn estimated 63.4 million Indian children under 5 years are at risk of poor development. Home visits that use a structured curriculum to help caregivers enhance the quality of the home stimulation environment improve developmental outcomes. However, achieving effectiveness in poor urban contexts through scalable models remains challenging. MethodsUsing a cluster randomised controlled trial, we evaluated a psychosocial stimulation intervention, comprising weekly home visits for 18 months, in urban slums of Cuttack, Odisha, India. The intervention is complementary to existing early childhood services in India and was run and managed through a local branch of a national NGO. The study ran from August 2013 to July 2015. We enrolled 421 children aged 10–20 months from 54 slums. Slums were randomised to intervention or control. Primary outcomes were children's cognitive, receptive language, expressive language and fine motor development assessed using the Bayley‐III. Prespec...

Global access to preschool has increased dramatically yet preschool quality is often poor. We use... more Global access to preschool has increased dramatically yet preschool quality is often poor. We use a randomized controlled trial to evaluate two approaches to improving the quality of Colombian preschools. We find that the first, which was rolled out nationwide and provides additional resources for materials and new staff, did not benefit children's development and, unintentionally, led teachers to reduce their involvement in classroom activities. The second approach additionally trains teachers to improve their pedagogical methods. We find this addition offset the negative effects on teacher behavior, improved the quality of teaching and raised children's cognition, language and school readiness.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Nuffield Foundation (grant number EDO/43359... more The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Nuffield Foundation (grant number EDO/43359). The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare and Justice. It also funds student programmes that provide opportunities for young people to develop skills in quantitative and scientific methods. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Ada Lovelace Institute. The Foundation has funded this project, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org. Contents Executive summary 1. Introduction 2. Methodology 2.1 Review of the evidence 2.2 Analysis of the local context 2.3 Focus groups with local parents 2.4 Pilot sessions with local families 2.5 Developing an evaluation plan 3. Assessing the need for a new early intervention 3.1 A gap in early years service provision 3.2 A gap in the evidence base 4. Developing the curriculum for the UK context 4.1 Why the Reach Up curriculum? 4.2 Curriculum resources 4.3 Visit content 5. Delivery model for the intervention 5.1 Defining the target population 5.2 Length and frequency of the intervention 5.3 Staffing 5.4 Qualitative evidence of the intervention's effectiveness 6. Evaluating the intervention 6.1 Designing a randomised controlled trial 6.2 Data collection plan 6.3 Risks to and challenges for the evaluation 7. Conclusion Appendix A. Local area data Appendix B. Eligibility criteria Appendix C. Overview of data collection survey plan

PLOS Medicine, 2018

Background Poor early childhood development (ECD) in low-and middle-income countries is a major c... more Background Poor early childhood development (ECD) in low-and middle-income countries is a major concern. There are calls to universalise access to ECD interventions through integrating them into existing government services but little evidence on the medium-or long-term effects of such scalable models. We previously showed that a psychosocial stimulation (PS) intervention integrated into a cash transfer programme improved Colombian children's cognition, receptive language, and home stimulation. In this follow-up study, we assessed the medium-term impacts of the intervention, 2 years after it ended, on children's cognition, language, school readiness, executive function, and behaviour. Methods and findings Study participants were 1,419 children aged 12-24 months at baseline from beneficiary households of the cash transfer programme, living in 96 Colombian towns. The original cluster randomised controlled trial (2009-2011) randomly allocated the towns to control (N = 24, n = 349), PS (N = 24, n = 357), multiple micronutrient (MN) supplementation (N = 24, n = 354), and combined PS and MN (N = 24, n = 359). Interventions lasted 18 months. In this study (26 September 2013 to 11 January 2014), we assessed impacts on cognition, language, school readiness, executive function, and behaviour 2 years after intervention, at ages 4.5-5.5 years. Testers, but not participants, were blinded to treatment allocation. Analysis was on an intent-to-treat basis. We reassessed 88.5% of the children in the original study (n = 1,256). Factor analysis of test scores yielded 2 factors: cognitive (cognition, language, school readiness, executive function) and behavioural. We found no effect of the

Review of economic dynamics, 2017

In this paper we use high quality data from two developing countries, Ethiopia and Peru, to estim... more In this paper we use high quality data from two developing countries, Ethiopia and Peru, to estimate the production functions of human capital from age 1 to age 15. We characterize the nature of persistence and dynamic complementarities between two components of human capital: health and cognition. We also explore the implications of different functional form assumptions for the production functions. We find that more able and higher income parents invest more, particularly at younger ages when investments have the greatest impacts. These differences in investments by parental income lead to large gaps in inequality by age 8 that persist through age 15.

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) promotes evidence-informed equitable, in... more The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) promotes evidence-informed equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. We support the generation and effective use of high-quality evidence to inform decision-making and improve the lives of people living in poverty in low-and middle-income countries. We provide guidance and support to produce, synthesise and quality-assure evidence of what works, for whom, how, why and at what cost. 3ie impact evaluations 3ie-supported impact evaluations assess the difference a development intervention has made to social and economic outcomes. 3ie is committed to funding rigorous evaluations that include a theory-based design, use the most appropriate mix of methods to capture outcomes and are useful in complex development contexts. About this report 3ie accepted the final version of the report, In search of the holy grail: can unconditional cash transfers graduate households out of poverty in Zambia?, as partial fulfilment of requirements under grant DPW1.1042 awarded through Development Priorities Window Grail An object or goal that is sought after for its great significance.-Meriam-Webster Dictionary A thing which is eagerly pursued or sought after.-Oxford English Dictionary iii Contents Acknowledgements .

Journal of Human Resources, 2015

We study the socioeconomic gradient of child development on a sample of low-and middle-income chi... more We study the socioeconomic gradient of child development on a sample of low-and middle-income children aged 6-42 months in Bogota using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. We fi nd an average difference of 0.53, 0.42, and 0.49 standard deviations (SD) in cognition, receptive, and expressive language respectively, between children in the top and bottom quartile of the wealth distribution. These gaps increase substantially to 0.81 SD (cognition), 0.76 SD (receptive language), and 0.68 SD (expressive language) for children aged 31-42 months. These robust fi ndings can inform the design and targeting of interventions promoting early childhood development.

Both "Perry" and "Jamaica" have demonstrated incredibly strong results that are sustained in the ... more Both "Perry" and "Jamaica" have demonstrated incredibly strong results that are sustained in the long run.

Pediatrics, 2014

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the timing and size of the cognitive deficit associated with pov... more OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the timing and size of the cognitive deficit associated with poverty in the first 5 years of life and to examine the role of parental characteristics, pre- and postnatal growth, and stimulation in the home in Bangladeshi children. We hypothesized that the effect of poverty on cognition begins in infancy and is mainly mediated by these factors. METHODS: We enrolled 2853 singletons, a subsample from a pregnancy supplementation trial in a poor rural area. We assessed mental development at 7, 18, and 64 months; anthropometry at birth, 12, 24, and 64 months; home stimulation at 18 and 64 months; and family’s socioeconomic background. In multiple regression analyses, we examined the effect of poverty at birth on IQ at 64 months and the extent that other factors mediated the effect. RESULTS: A mean cognitive deficit of 0.2 (95% confidence interval –0.4 to –0.02) z scores between the first and fifth wealth quintiles was apparent at 7 months and increased to ...

Journal of the European Economic Association, 2015

In this paper, I discuss a research agenda on the study of human capital accumulation in the earl... more In this paper, I discuss a research agenda on the study of human capital accumulation in the early years, with a particular focus on developing countries. I discuss several methodological issues, from the use of structural models, to the importance of measurement and the development of new measurement tools. I present a conceptual framework that can be used to frame the study of human capital accumulation and view the current challenges and gaps in knowledge within such an organizing structure. I provide an example of the use of such a framework to interpret the evidence on the impacts of an early years intervention based on randomized controlled trial.