Critical Periods in Cognitive and Socioemotional Development: Evidence from Weather Shocks in Indonesia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Webb, Duncan
• 署名单位: Paris School of Economics; Paris School of Economics
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/uead105
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 1637-1665
• 关键词: early-childhood; CLIMATE-CHANGE; nutritional supplementation; psychosocial stimulation; brain-development; skill formation; HEALTH; CHILDREN; interventions; TECHNOLOGY

摘要

Early-life circumstances are important determinants of long-run human capital and well-being outcomes. The first 1,000 days of life are often cited as a 'critical period' for child development, but this notion has rarely been directly tested. In a setting where children are potentially subject to shocks in every year of their childhood, I estimate the impact of early-life weather shocks on adult cognitive and socioemotional outcomes for individuals born in rural Indonesia between 1988 and 2000. There is a strong critical period for these shocks at age two for cognitive development, but no evidence for a similar critical period for socioemotional development. The effects appear to be driven by changes in agricultural income and nutritional investment. The impacts are initially latent, only appearing after age 15. I show suggestive evidence for dynamic complementarity in early-life investments.