Policy Interventions to Improve Children's Health and Human Capital

The goal of this course is to explore the extent to which childhood interventions can break the cycle of poverty and reduce the inequality of human capital.  Childhood interventions have proliferated in recent years in both developed and developing countries.  There is substantial evidence that, in the development of human capabilities, disadvantage starts early in life, capabilities are complementary, and skills beget skills. However, policy designs often lag behind the lessons learned from research, and the research debate often fails to take into account feasibility and implementation issues.  We will conduct a critical analysis of the impact of childhood interventions on diverse outcomes throughout the life cycle, as well as a discussion of the designs of past and ongoing interventions and the challenges they have faced.  We will examine interventions that target children directly as well as those that aim to improve child development indirectly by changing parental behavior or the home or community environment.  Interventions from both developed and developing countries will be considered in order to foster discussion on their applicability in different settings.