Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34071 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2190
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A growing proportion of the U.S. workforce will have been raised in disadvantaged environments that are associated with relatively high proportions of individuals with diminished cognitive and social skills. A cross-disciplinary examination of research in economics, developmental psychology, and neurobiology reveals a striking convergence on a set of common principles that account for the potent effects of early environment on the capacity for human skill development. Central to these principles are the findings that early experiences have a uniquely powerful influence on the development of cognitive and social skills, as well as on brain architecture and neurochemistry; that both skill development and brain maturation are hierarchical processes in which higher level functions depend on, and build on, lower level functions; and that the capacity for change in the foundations of human skill development and neural circuitry is highest earlier in life and decreases over time. These findings lead to the conclusion that the most efficient strategy for strengthening the future workforce, both economically and neurobiologically, and for improving its quality of life is to invest in the environments of disadvantaged children during the early childhood years.
Subjects: 
child development
early experience
economic productivity
critical and sensitive periods
brain development
JEL: 
H43
I28
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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