Monthly Archives: December 2010

Pre-k quality and class size

Posted on December 30, 2010 by

One feature of pre-k programs that can “easily” be changed by public policy is class size.  When I say class size can be changed “easily”, I mean that it can be changed with a simple to implement change in law … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs

Pre-k quality and teacher quality

Posted on December 29, 2010 by

Many aspects of pre-k programs affect their quality. “Quality” in turn affects the magnitude of economic development benefits for a state or local economy. I’ll be exploring this important issue of pre-k quality in several blog posts. One of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs

How we can improve the local productivity of business incentives

Posted on December 29, 2010 by

Although this blog (and my book, Investing in Kids) is mainly concerned with how early childhood programs can provide economic development benefits, I also consider the role of business incentives in economic development. Business incentives are tax breaks or services … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Incentive design issues

Film incentives: why are they particularly problematic as economic development incentives?

Posted on December 28, 2010 by

In a recent blog post, Matt Yglesias casts a skeptical eye on incentives for film production in a particular state or local economy.  Many states offer huge incentives for films to be made in the state, on the grounds that … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Economic development, Incentive design issues, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

What might early childhood education do for Chicago?

Posted on December 28, 2010 by

In the New York Times article by James Warren on Professor James Heckman’s ideas on early childhood education, Mr. Warren suggests that Professor Heckman’s ideas “might have benefited mayoral candidates concerned about Chicago’s public schools performance”. Warren goes on to … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits

The Heckman Equation and the relative difficulty of human capital investments

Posted on December 28, 2010 by

Ezra Klein links to a New York Times article by James Warren about Nobel prize-winning James Heckman’s arguments for greater early childhood investments. (Full disclosure: Professor Heckman has written a favorable blurb for my book Investing in Kids, part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs

How business incentives affect economic development, and why effects can be so large

Posted on December 27, 2010 by

My book Investing in Kids: Early Childhood Programs and Local Economic Development does not just analyze the economic development effects of early childhood programs.  To fully understand the economic development benefits of early childhood programs, we need to contrast their … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Economic development

Supply-side early childhood economics

Posted on December 23, 2010 by

Early childhood programs can be described as “supply side” programs because they improve local economic development by improving the quantity and quality of local labor supply.  Many non-economists are unaware that both conservative and liberal economists are in some sense … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development

The importance of “soft skills”

Posted on December 22, 2010 by

John Funk, in his blog at Topics in Early Childhood Education, reminds us that for a child to learn in the preschool classroom, we must first address certain fundamentals: “security, association, belonging, dignity, hope, power, enjoyment and competence”. We can … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 4 Comments

The importance of “stayers”

Posted on December 21, 2010 by

High-quality early childhood programs will increase the adult skills of former child participants. But this only pays off for local economic development if a significant number of former child participants live in the local economy of their childhood when they … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic development