Search Results

Author: Thomas, Duncan
Resulting in 19 citations.
1. Bitler, Marianne Parcella
Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
The Effects of WIC on Children's Outcomes
Working Paper, RAND, Santa Monica, CA, October 2001
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: RAND
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Birthweight; Breastfeeding; Child Health; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Food Stamps (see Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program); Head Start; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Infants; Medicaid/Medicare; Memory for Digit Span (WISC) - also see Digit Span; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Behavior; Mothers, Health; Motor and Social Development (MSD); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Welfare

This paper examines the effect of the Special Supplement Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Previous studies have found extensive evidence of positive effects of WIC on a variety of pregnancy outcomes, yet few have found any longer lasting evidence of the effect of WIC on young children. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find evidence that WIC may have positive but small effects on some pregnancy outcomes and on some cognitive test scores and on Medicaid and Food Stamp use in regressions with family fixed effects. However, in instrumental variables analysis, WIC has a negative effect on one motor skill test and no effect in other test scores.
Bibliography Citation
Bitler, Marianne Parcella, Janet Currie and Duncan Thomas. "The Effects of WIC on Children's Outcomes." Working Paper, RAND, Santa Monica, CA, October 2001.
2. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Can Head Start Lead to Long Term Gains in Cognition After All?
Society for Research in Child Development Newsletter 40, 2 (Spring 1997): 3-5
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
Keyword(s): Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Siblings

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

EXCERPT...a typical finding in the Head Start evaluation literature has been that the benefits measured in terms of test scores fade out within a few years of program completion (Barrett,1992). In response, advocates for the program have pointed out that it may be unrealistic to expect a one or two year intervention like Head Start to have long lasting effects on children. One cannot innoculate children against poverty (Zigler and Meunchow, 1992). Recent work by Janet Currie and Duncan Thomas revisits this question. Our work differs from previous efforts both in terms of tha data source and in terms of methodology. Specifically, we focus on a national sample of children from the National Longitudinal Surveys. These children were born to female participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), a study of men and women who were between the ages of 14 and 21 in 1978...Beginning in 1988, mothers were asked whether their child had ever attended Head Start or some other form of preschool. A key feature of this data set is that it includes a large number of children from a range of backgrounds...
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Can Head Start Lead to Long Term Gains in Cognition After All?" Society for Research in Child Development Newsletter 40, 2 (Spring 1997): 3-5.
3. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Help Hispanic Children?
NBER Working Paper No. 5805, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 1996.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W5805
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Association of School Psychologists
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Cognitive Development; Ethnic Differences; Head Start; Hispanic Youth; Hispanics; Human Capital; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Siblings

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Poor educational attainment is a persistent problem among Latino children, relative to nor Latinos. This paper examines the effects of participation in the Head Start program on Latinos. We find that large and significant benefits accrue to Head Start children when we compare them siblings who did not participate in the program. On average, Head Start closes at least 1/4 of the gap in test scores between Latino children and non-Hispanic white children, and 2/3 of the gap in the probability of grade repetition. Latinos are not a homogenous group and we find that the benefits of Head Start are not evenly distributed across sub-groups. Relative to siblings who attend preshool, the gains from Head Start are greatest along children of Mexican-origin and children native-born mothers, especially those whose mothers have more human capital. In contrast, Latino children whose mothers are foreign-born and Puerto Rican children appear to reap little benefit from attending Heat Start, relative to their siblings.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Help Hispanic Children?" NBER Working Paper No. 5805, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 1996.
4. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Help Hispanic Children?
Journal of Public Economics 74,2 (November 1999): 235-262.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272799000274
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Childhood Education, Early; Children, Preschool; Educational Attainment; Head Start; Hispanics; Immigrants; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Siblings; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Poor educational attainment is a persistent problem among US hispanic children, relative to non-hispanics. Many of these children are immigrants and/or come from households that use a minority language in the home. This paper examines the effects of participation in a government sponsored preschool program called Head Start on these children. We find that large and significant benefits accrue to Head Start children when we compare them to siblings who did not participate in the program. On average, Head Start closes at least 1/4 of the gap in test scores between hispanic children and non-hispanic white children, and 2/3 of the gap in the probability of grade repetition. However, we find that the benefits of Head Start are not evenly distributed across sub-groups.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Help Hispanic Children?" Journal of Public Economics 74,2 (November 1999): 235-262.
5. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Make a Difference?
NBER Working Paper w4406, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 1993.
Also: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1645724
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Family Background and Culture; Head Start; Hispanics; Mothers; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Siblings; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Using samples of child-siblings and mother-siblings from the National Longitudinal Survey's Child-Mother file, we find positive effects of participation in Head Start on the test scores of white and Hispanic children. These effects persist for children 8 years and older, and are detectable in the AFQT scores of the white mothers in our sample. We also find that white and Hispanic children are less likely to have repeated a grade if they attended Head Start. African-American and white children who attend Head Start receive measles shots at an earlier age and experience gains in height relative to their siblings who did not attend, and we find weak evidence that white mothers who attended Head Start as children also experienced gains in height relative to their siblings. Hence we find positive and lasting effects of participation in Head Start on a broad range of outcomes.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" NBER Working Paper w4406, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 1993.
6. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Make a Difference?
Working Paper No. 94-05, Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, February 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: RAND
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Disadvantaged, Economically; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Head Start; Health Care; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Siblings; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Data are used to investigate the effects of participation in Head Start on a range of child outcomes. In order to control for selection into the program. comparisons are drawn between siblings and also between the relative benefits associated with attending Head Start, on one hand, and other preschools, on the other. Both whites and African-Americans experience initial gains in test scores as a result of participation in Head Start. But, among African-Americans, the gains are quickly lost whereas, for whites, the gains persist well into adulthood. Result may indicate that Head Start significantly reduces the probability that a white child will repeat a grade, but has no effect on grade repetition among African-American children.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" Working Paper No. 94-05, Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, February 1994.
7. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Make a Difference?
Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Disadvantaged, Economically; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Head Start; Health Care; Hispanics; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although there is broad bi-partisan support for Head Start, there is little quantitative evidence that the program has long-term positive effects. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey's Child-Mother file, we examine the impact of the program on a range of child outcomes. After controlling for selection into the program using fixed effects methods we find positive effects of participation in Head Start on the test scores of white and Hispanic children that persist among children over 8 years old. We also find that these children are less likely to have repeated a grade. However we find no effects on the test scores or schooling attainment of African-American children. White children who attend Head Start are more likely to preventive health care, while the evidence suggests that African-American enrollees receive such care earlier than they otherwise would have. These racial differences do not seem to be explained by the relatively disadvantaged economic position of African-Americans.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994.
8. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Does Head Start Make a Difference?
American Economic Review 85,3 (June 1995): 341-364.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118178
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Children, Health Care; Disadvantaged, Economically; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Head Start; Medicaid/Medicare; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Siblings; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The impact of participation in Head Start is investigated using a national sample of children. Comparisons are drawn between siblings to control for selection. Head Start is associated with large and significant gains in test scores among both whites and African-Americans. However, among African-Americans, these gains are quickly lost. Head Start significantly reduces the probability that a white child will repeat a grade but it has no effect on grade repetition among African-American children. Both whites and African-Americans who attend Head Start, or other preschools, gain greater access to preventive health services.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" American Economic Review 85,3 (June 1995): 341-364.
9. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Intergenerational Transmission of "Intelligence": Down the Slippery Slopes of the Bell Curve
Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society 38,3 (July, 1999): 297-330.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0019-8676.00131/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Family Background and Culture; Intelligence; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Herrnstein and Murray report that conditional on maternal "intelligence" (AFQT scores), child test scores are little affected by variations in socioeconomic status. Using the same date, we demonstrate that their finding is very fragile. We explore the effect of adopting a more representative sample of children, including blacks and Latinos, allowing nonlinearities in the relationships and incorporating richer measures of socioeconomic status. Making any one of these changes overturns their finding: Socioeconomic status and child test scores are postively and significantly related. Evidence is presented suggesting AFQT scores are likely better markers for family background than "intelligence."
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Intergenerational Transmission of "Intelligence": Down the Slippery Slopes of the Bell Curve." Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society 38,3 (July, 1999): 297-330.
10. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Medicaid and Medical Care for Children
NBER Working Paper No. 4284, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 1992.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W4284
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Children, Health Care; Medicaid/Medicare; Racial Differences; Siblings; Welfare

Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys are used to compare the medical care received by children covered by Medicaid with that of other similar children. The longitudinal dimension of the data is exploited as we examine difference between siblings and also reputed observations on the same child. We find that Medicaid coverage is associated with a higher probability of both black and white children receiving routine checkups but with increases in the number of doctor visits for illness only among white children. This racial disparity in the number of visits may be linked to the fact that black children with Medicaid coverage are less likely to see a private physician than other children.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Medicaid and Medical Care for Children." NBER Working Paper No. 4284, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 1992.
11. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Medical Care for Children Public Insurance, Private Insurance, and Racial Differences in Utilization
Journal of Human Resources 30,1 (Winter 1995): 135-162.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/146194
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Child Health; Children, Health Care; Children, Illness; Family Background and Culture; Fathers, Absence; Heterogeneity; Maternal Employment; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Racial Differences

Data from two waves of the Child-Mother module of the National Longitudinal Surveys are used to examine the medical care received by children. We compare those covered by Medicaid, by private health insurance and those with no insurance coverage at all. We find there are substantial differences in the impact of public and private health insurance and these effects also differ between blacks and whites. White children on Medicaid tend to have more doctor checkups than any other children and white children on Medicaid or a private insurance plan have a higher number of doctor visits for illness. In contrast, for black children, neither Medicaid nor private insurance coverage is associated with any advantage in terms of the number of doctor visits for illness. Furthermore, black children with private coverage are no more likely than those with no coverage to have doctor checkups; black Medicaid children are more likely than either group to have checkups although the gap is not precisely estimated. We exploit the longitudinal dimension of the data in order to take account of potential selection and thus include child specific fixed effects in the models. The results are robust to the inclusion of these controls for unobserved heterogeneity. They suggest that private and public health insurance mean different things to different children, and that national insurance coverage will not equalize utilization of care.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Medical Care for Children Public Insurance, Private Insurance, and Racial Differences in Utilization." Journal of Human Resources 30,1 (Winter 1995): 135-162.
12. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Nature vs. Nurture? The Bell Curve and Children's Cognitive Achievement
Working Paper Series 95-19, Labor and Population Program, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, August 1995
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Development; I.Q.; Intelligence; Intelligence Tests; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Income; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

In The Bell Curve, Herrnstein and Murray demonstrate that a mother's score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test is a powerful predictor of her child's score on a cognitive achievement test. We replicate this finding. However, even after controlling for maternal scores, there are significant gaps in the scores of black and white children which suggests that maternal scores are not all that matter. In fact, both maternal education and income are important determinants of child test scores, conditional on maternal AFQT. We argue that racial gaps in test scores matter because even within families, children with higher scores are less likely to repeat grades. However, conditional on both child test scores and maternal AFQT, maternal education and income also affect a child's probability of grade repetition. We conclude that, even if one accepts test scores as valid measures of "nature", both nature and nurture matter. Finally, we show that the effects on child test scores of maternal test scores, education, and income differ dramatically depending on the nature of the test, the age of the child, and race. The results suggest that understanding the relationships between different aspects of maternal achievement and child outcomes may help unravel the complex process through which poverty is transmitted across generations.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Nature vs. Nurture? The Bell Curve and Children's Cognitive Achievement." Working Paper Series 95-19, Labor and Population Program, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, August 1995.
13. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Race, Children's Cognition Achievement and the Bell Curve
Working Paper DRU-1178-1-NICHD, RAND, 1995
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: RAND
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Grade Retention/Repeat Grade; Intelligence; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

In the Bell Curve, Herrnstein and Murray demonstrate that a mother's score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) is a powerful predictor of her child's score on a cognitive achievement test. The authors replicate this finding. However, even after controlling for maternal scores, there are significant gaps in the scores of black and white children which suggests that maternal scores are not all that matter. In fact, both maternal education and income are important determinants of child test scores, conditional on maternal AFQT. The authors argue that racial gaps in test scores matter because even within families, children with higher scores are less likely to repeat grades. However, conditional on both child test scores and maternal AFQT, maternal education and income also affect a child's probability of grade repetition. The authors conclude that, even if one accepts test scores as valid measures of "nature", both nature and nurture matter. Finally, the authors show that the effects on child test scores of maternal test scores, education, and income differ dramatically depending on the nature of the test, the age of the child, and race. The results suggest that understanding the relationships between different aspects of maternal achievement and child outcomes may help unravel the complex process through which poverty is transmitted across generations.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Race, Children's Cognition Achievement and the Bell Curve." Working Paper DRU-1178-1-NICHD, RAND, 1995.
14. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Race, Children's Cognitive Achievement and the Bell Curve
NBER Working Paper No. 5240, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 1995.
Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W5240/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Grade Retention/Repeat Grade; Intelligence; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

In The Bell Curve, Herrnstein and Murray demonstrate that a mother's score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test is a powerful predictor of her child's score on a cognitive achievement test. We replicate this finding. However, even after controlling for maternal scores, there are significant gaps in the scores of black and white children which suggests that maternal scores are not all that matter. In fact, both maternal education and income are important determinants of child test scores, conditional on maternal AFQT. We argue that racial gaps in test scores matter because even within families, children with higher scores are less likely to repeat grades. However, conditional on both child test scores and maternal AFQT, maternal education and income also affect a child's probability of grade repetition. We conclude that, even if one accepts test scores as valid measures of 'nature', both nature and nurture matter. Finally, we show that the effects on child test scores of maternal test scores, education, and income differ dramatically depending on the nature of the test, the age of the child, and race. The results suggest that understanding the relationships between different aspects of maternal achievement and child outcomes may help us unravel the complex process through which poverty is transmitted across generations.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Race, Children's Cognitive Achievement and the Bell Curve." NBER Working Paper No. 5240, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 1995.
15. Currie, Janet
Thomas, Duncan
Welfare Policy and Child Welfare
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Child Health; Children, Well-Being; Cognitive Development; Food Stamps (see Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program); Heterogeneity; Modeling; Siblings; Transfers, Financial; Transfers, Public; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Even as welfare reforms are enacted, there is little scientific evidence about the impact of income transfer programs on one of their key targets: children at risk. This paper attempts to fill that gap by investigating the impact of parental participation in these programs on the well-being of their children. The focus is on the protective effect of income received from AFDC and Food Stamps on the health and cognitive development of young children. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we examine the effects of participation in welfare programs and the income received from those programs on child welfare. To address the fact that welfare participants are not randomly drawn from the population, we treat program participation as a choice made by mothers and compare the impact of participation on siblings. Failure to account for unobserved heterogeneity in this way turns out to be key and leads to the inference that welfare experience causes children to be worse off. Moreover, simply comparing whether a child has been on welfare with a sibling who has not does not capture the diversity of experiences. It is when we turn to time-specific models of welfare experiences and also compare the effect of welfare income with other resources that the effects on child well-being are clearest. There appear to be significant benefits to those children who have short spells on welfare at critical times in their lives and these benefits appear to be long-lasting.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Duncan Thomas. "Welfare Policy and Child Welfare." Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1997.
16. Strauss, John
Thomas, Duncan
Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development
Journal of Economic Literature 36,2 (June 1998): 766-817.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2565122
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Child Health; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Human Capital; Labor Economics; Labor Market Outcomes; Labor Market Surveys; Wage Effects

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Over the past 20 years, investment in human resources has taken center stage in the study of developing economies. A voluminous set of wage function estimates provides the basis for calculating market returns to education for virtually every country in the world. Studies have also looked at the effects of schooling on nonmarket outcomes. Prominent among those outcomes is the health of children and adults. Since health, like schooling, is a form of human capital, one might expect it to also be related to labor market success. That link has received much less attention in the empirical literature, although in recent years there have been substantial advances in our understanding of the complex interrelationships between health, nutrition, and economic development. This paper reviews some of the evidence.
Bibliography Citation
Strauss, John and Duncan Thomas. "Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development." Journal of Economic Literature 36,2 (June 1998): 766-817.
17. Strauss, John
Thomas, Duncan
Measurement and Mismeasurement of Social Indicators
Rand Reprints, Rand/RP-534, Reprinted by permission from the American Economic Review 86,2 (May 1996): 30-34
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Education; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income; Social Influences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Copyright 1996 American Economic Association. Over the last few decades, there has been a spectacular increase in the availability of data on a broad array of social indicators including life expectancy, health, and education, and these data are routinely tabulated for many countries. In part, this reflects a recognition that the well-being of a population is not fully captured by measures of consumption or income. Measurement of social indicators is not without its pitfalls, however, and drawing conclusions based on comparisons of national aggregates is fraught with difficulties, especially when data sources are sketchy. This general point has been made forcefully in a recent issue of the Journal of Development Economics (see T. N. Srinivasan. 1944). The papers in that issue make a compelling argument for investing in improving the quality--and frequency--of data-collection efforts. However, even when "good" survey data do exist. serious and often quite subtle issues of comparability and measurement still abound.
Bibliography Citation
Strauss, John and Duncan Thomas. "Measurement and Mismeasurement of Social Indicators." Rand Reprints, Rand/RP-534, Reprinted by permission from the American Economic Review 86,2 (May 1996): 30-34.
18. Thomas, Duncan
Like Father, Like Son, Or, Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Education and Child Health
RAND Publication, RP-381, Santa Monica CA: The RAND Corporation, April 1994
Also: http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-381
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: RAND
Keyword(s): Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Child Health; Cross-national Analysis; Fathers, Influence; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Age at Menarche; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Height; Nutritional Status/Nutrition/Consumption Behaviors; Parental Influences; Racial Differences

Using household survey data from the United States, Brazil and Ghana, we examine the relationship between parental education and child height, an indicator of health and nutritional status. In all three countries, the education of the mother has a bigger effect on her daughter's height; paternal education, in contrast, has a bigger impact on his son's height. There are, apparently, differences in the allocation of household resources depending on the gender of the child and these difference vary with the gender of the parent. These results are quite robust and persist even after including controls for unobserved household fixed effects. In Ghana, relative to other women, the education of a woman who is better educated than her husband has a bigger impact on the height of her daughter than her son. In BraziL women's nonlabor income has a positive impact on the health of her daughter but not on her son's health. If relative education of parents and non-labor income are in dicators of power in a household bargaining game, then these results suggest that gender differences in resource allocations reflect both technological differences in child rearing and differences in the preferences of parents.
Bibliography Citation
Thomas, Duncan. "Like Father, Like Son, Or, Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Education and Child Health." RAND Publication, RP-381, Santa Monica CA: The RAND Corporation, April 1994.
19. Thomas, Duncan
Like Father, Like Son; Like Mother, Like Daughter Parental Resources and Child Height
Journal of Human Resources 29,4 (Fall 1994): 950-988.
Also: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/jhr/1994ab/thomas.html
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Child Health; Cross-national Analysis; Education; Education Indicators; Fathers and Sons; Gender Differences; Height; Household Income; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers and Daughters; Mothers, Age at Menarche; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Height; Nutritional Status/Nutrition/Consumption Behaviors; Parental Influences; Racial Differences

Using household survey data from the United States, Brazil, and Ghana, this article examines the relationship between parental education and child height, an indicator of health and nutritional status. In all three countries, the education of the mother has a bigger effect on her daughter's height; paternal education, in contrast, has a bigger impact on his son's height. There are, apparently, differences in the allocation of household resources depending on the gender of the child and these differences vary with the gender of the parent. These results are quite robust and persist even after including controls for unobserved household fixed effects. Results for all three countries are discussed. Results suggest that gender differences in resource allocations reflect both technological differences in child rearing and differences in the preferences of parents.
Bibliography Citation
Thomas, Duncan. "Like Father, Like Son; Like Mother, Like Daughter Parental Resources and Child Height." Journal of Human Resources 29,4 (Fall 1994): 950-988.