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The Economics of Child Development

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Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care

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Abstract

In recent years our understanding of the science of child development has increased in sophistication from the standpoint of neuroscience, cognition, psychology, and molecular biology. In conjunction with these advances, the discipline of economics has contributed its own important insights with salient policy implications. This chapter reviews the underlying theory motivating the recent economic literature regarding the importance of early investments in child development. In particular, it characterizes the application of human capital theory to the arena of early childhood skill development. It highlights some of the methodological challenges facing economic evaluations of early child development interventions and summarizes the empirical findings derived from both highly controlled model programs as well as larger scale “real-world” interventions designed to augment child cognitive and social emotional skills. The conclusion is that from an economic standpoint, the returns to investment in early child development are substantial and compare favorably to alternative uses of equivalent resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Montefiore Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Andrew D. Racine M.D., Ph.D.

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  1. Andrew D. Racine M.D., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Andrew D. Racine M.D., Ph.D. .

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  1. Montefiore Health System, Bronx, New York, USA

    Rahil D. Briggs

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Racine, A.D. (2016). The Economics of Child Development. In: Briggs, R. (eds) Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31815-8_3

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