Targeting Investments in Children

by Levine, Phillip B.

• ISBN13: 9780226475813
• ISBN10: 0226475816
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

A substantial number of American children experience poverty: about 17 percent of those under the age of eighteen meet the government's definition, and the proportion is even greater within minority groups. Childhood poverty can have lifelong effects, resulting in poor educational, labor market, and physical and mental health outcomes for adults. These problems have long been recognized, and there are numerous programs designed to alleviate or even eliminate poverty; as these programs compete for scarce resources, it is important to develop a clear view of their impact as tools for poverty alleviation. Targeting Investments in Childrentackles the problem of evaluating these programs by examining them using a common metric: their impact on earnings in adulthood. The volume's contributors explore a variety of issues, such as the effect of interventions targeted at children of different ages, and study a range of programs, including child care, after-school care, and drug prevention. The results will be invaluable to educational leaders and researchers as well as policy makers.

Author Biography

Phillip B. Levine is the Class of 1919 Professor and chair of the Department of Economics at Wellesley College and a research associate of the NBER. David J. Zimmerman is professor of economics and the Orrin Sage Professor of Political Economy at Williams College and a research associate of the NBER.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Prologue
Introduction	p. 3
Issues in Implementation	p. 13
Early Childhood Interventions
Child Development	p. 27
Child Care	p. 59
Child Health	p. 77
Middle Childhood Interventions
After-School Care	p. 123
Education Reforms	p. 145
Adolescent Interventions
Preventing Drug Use	p. 181
Teen Pregnancy Prevention	p. 221
Dropout Prevention and College Prep	p. 249
College Aid	p. 283
Neighborhood and Community Initiatives	p. 303
Vocational Training	p. 323
Epilogue
Synthesizing the Results	p. 353
Conclusions	p. 377
Contributors	p. 383
Author Index	p. 385
Subject Index	p. 393
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