Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/228201 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP20/21
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, UCD Centre for Economic Research, Dublin
Abstract: 
Evidence for the short-term impact of early intervention on childhood health is weak and inconsistent. Using rigorous methods, careful hypothesis setting, and socioeconomic contextualisation, we examine the impact of an Irish home visiting programme on child health. The treatment provides mentoring visits from pregnancy until school entry to improve child outcomes through positively affecting parenting. In a context where socioeconomic inequalities in health have yet to emerge, modest effects by age four are found, driven by reduced hospital attendance. Conflicting reports in the literature may thus arise from an overexpectation of hypothesized effects and failure to account for social contexts.
Subjects: 
Home visiting programme
randomised controlled trial
child health
health inequality
human capital formation
JEL: 
I14
I12
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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