Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries

27 Pages Posted: 21 May 2019

See all articles by Norbert Schady

Norbert Schady

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Jere Behrman

University of Pennsylvania

Maria Caridad Araujo

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Rodrigo Azuero

Emory University - Institute for Quantitative Theory and Methods

Raquel Bernal

Universidad de los Andes, Colombia - Department of Economics

David Bravo

Centro Encuestas y Estudios Longitudinales Universidad Catolica

Florencia López Bóo

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Young Lives, Department of International Development, University of Oxford; IZA

Karen Macours

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

Daniela Marshall

University of Pennsylvania

Christina H. Paxson

Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Renos Vakis

World Bank Group, Kenya

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 2019

Abstract

Research from the United States shows that gaps in early cognitive and non-cognitive ability appear early in the life cycle. Little is known about this important question for developing countries. This paper provides new evidence of sharp differences in cognitive development by socioeconomic status in early childhood for five Latin American countries. To help with comparability, we use the same measure of receptive language ability for all five countries. We find important differences in development in early childhood across countries, and steep socioeconomic gradients within every country. For the three countries where we can follow children over time, there are few substantive changes in scores once children enter school. Our results are robust to different ways of defining socioeconomic status, to different ways of standardizing outcomes, and to selective non-response on our measure of cognitive development.

Keywords: cognitive development, poverty, gradients

JEL Classification: I24, I25

Suggested Citation

Schady, Norbert and Behrman, Jere and Araujo, Maria Caridad and Azuero, Rodrigo and Bernal, Raquel and Bravo, David and López Bóo, Florencia and Macours, Karen and Marshall, Daniela and Paxson, Christina H. and Vakis, Renos, Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries (January 2019). IZA Discussion Paper No. 12107, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3390095 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3390095

Norbert Schady (Contact Author)

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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Jere Behrman

University of Pennsylvania

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United States

Maria Caridad Araujo

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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Rodrigo Azuero

Emory University - Institute for Quantitative Theory and Methods ( email )

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Raquel Bernal

Universidad de los Andes, Colombia - Department of Economics ( email )

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David Bravo

Centro Encuestas y Estudios Longitudinales Universidad Catolica ( email )

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Florencia López Bóo

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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Young Lives, Department of International Development, University of Oxford ( email )

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IZA ( email )

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Karen Macours

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

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Daniela Marshall

University of Pennsylvania

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Christina H. Paxson

Princeton University ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Renos Vakis

World Bank Group, Kenya ( email )

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