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Title: Economics of Health and Mortality Special Feature: Economics, Technology, and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Heckman, James J.
Economics of Health and Mortality Special Feature: Economics, Technology, and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104,33 (August 14, 2007 ): 13250-13255
Also: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/33/13250.full.pdf+htm
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences (NAS), United States
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Human Capital; Infants; Life Cycle Research; Nutritional Status/Nutrition/Consumption Behaviors; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Skill Formation

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

This article begins the synthesis of two currently unrelated literatures: the human capital approach to health economics and the economics of cognitive and noncognitive skill formation. A lifecycle investment framework is the foundation for understanding the origins of human inequality and for devising policies to reduce it.

Two currently unrelated bodies of research in economics point to the importance of the early years of childhood in shaping many adult outcomes. The "fetal programming" literature surveyed by Gluckman and Hanson demonstrates that in utero environments affect adult health (1, 2). Robert Fogel demonstrates an important empirical relationship between early nutrition and adult health (3, 4). Barker demonstrates the predictive power of environmental insults in utero and in infancy for the onset of adult coronary disease, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension (5). Birthweight, fetal and maternal nutrition, growth by 1 year of age, etc. are all predictive of later adult health.

Bibliography Citation
Heckman, James J. "Economics of Health and Mortality Special Feature: Economics, Technology, and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104,33 (August 14, 2007 ): 13250-13255.