The program on children.

• Author: Gruber, Jonathan
• Position: Program Report

The impact of public policy on the well-being of children continues to be a major area of interest for policymakers. Likewise, the economics of children's issues continue to be a major area of research for members of the Children's Program at the NBER. This program brings together a group of" researchers from across many different fields, including labor economics, public economics, industrial organization, econometrics, and development economics. These researchers come together to work on a diverse set of issues related to the well-being of children, and to present their work in annual meetings each spring and at the NBER's Summer Institute each summer.

Since my last report on the Children's Program four years ago, there has been rapid growth in our roster of members, including some of the most exciting young economists in the profession. The number of Working Papers in the last full year before this report, 2007, was almost 40 percent higher than in the last full year before my previous report, 2003. Moreover, there has been a growing diversity of topics addressed by Program researchers, making this summary even more challenging! In this report, I focus on the contributions of this group of researchers to eight areas over the past four years: intergenerational linkages between parent and child; the impact of early life circumstances on later child outcomes; fertility and family structure; child health; children in developing economies; public policies (particularly child care and preschool) and child welfare; risky behavior by and around youths; and education.

Intergenerational Linkages

One of the major determinants of the well-being of children is the decisions made by, and changes imposed on, their parents. Over the past four years, a number of researchers in the Children's Program have explored very interesting aspects of this intergenerational linkage. One important area is maternal time inputs to newborns. John Cawley and Feng Liu (13609, 13600) find that employed women spend less time reading to their children and helping with homework, as well as less time cooking and more use of prepared meals. However, Michael Baker and Kevin Milligan (13188, 13826) find that expanded maternity leave, while increasing both maternal time at home and use of breastfeeding, did not have measurable impacts on child development outcomes or health.

Potential improvements in child outcomes from additional parental education or income also are important. Lucia Breirova and Esther Duflo (10513) find that more education for both mothers and fathers in Indonesia led to lower child mortality. Gordon Dahl and Lance Lochner (11279) find that family income increases attributable to the Earned Income Tax Credit lead to improved student test scores. And Philip Oreopolous, Marianne Page, and Ann Huff Stevens (11587) find that children with a parent displaced from a job have lower long-run earnings themselves.

In related studies, Janet Currie and Enrico Moretti (11567) find strong intergenerational correlations in the birth weight of mothers and children. Bruce Sacerdote (10894) compares adoptees to their biological siblings and finds that transmission from parent to child of education, income, height, and obesity are much higher for biological children, but that transmission of drinking and smoking is comparable in both groups. Sandra Black, Paul Devereux, and Kjell Salvanes (13336) use data from Norway to document that planned larger family sizes have little impact on child IQ, but that unplanned increases in family size through twin births do lead to lower IQ among existing children. Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, and Diane Schanzenbach (13479) study the intergenerational correlation of obesity and find that it has increased since the 1970s. And one study provides intriguing evidence of transmission in the other direction: Ebonva Washington (11924) finds that legislators who have daughters are more likely to vote in favor of women's rights than are those who have sons!

Long-Run Impacts of Early Childhood Life Events

In addition to the intergenerational linkages between parent and child, another major influence on the life course of individuals is their early childhood experiences. A particular area of innovation over the past four years has been the study of interesting early life influences and how they affect the life course. Here the research has focused on two questions: First, how do child health conditions affect the life course? Oreopolous, Mark Stabile, Randy Walld, and Leslie Roos (11998) compare siblings to show that those in poorer health as infants have lower educational attainment and are more likely to end up on welfare. Black, Devereux, and Salvanes...