Associations between urbanization and the home language environment: Evidence from a LENA study in rural and peri-urban China.

In low- and middle-income countries, urbanization has spurred the expansion of peri-urban communities, or urban communities of formerly rural residents with low socioeconomic status. The growth of these communities offers researchers an opportunity to measure the associations between the level of urbanization and the home language environment (HLE) among otherwise similar populations. Data were collected in 2019 using Language Environment Analysis observational assessment technology from 158 peri-urban and rural households with Han Chinese children (92 males, 66 females) aged 18-24 months in China. Peri-urban children scored lower than rural children in measures of the HLE and language development. In both samples, child age, gender, maternal employment, and sibling number were positively correlated with the HLE, which was in turn correlated with language development.

Maternal Subjective Expectations about the Technology of Skill Formation Predict Investments in Children One Year Later.

A growing literature reports significant socio-economic gaps in investments in the human capital of young children. Because the returns to these investments may be huge, parenting programs attempt to improve children's environments by increasing parental expectations about the importance of investments for their children's human capital formation. We contribute to this literature by investigating the relevance of maternal subjective expectations (MSE) about the technology of skill formation in predicting investments in the human capital of children. We develop and implement a framework to elicit and analyze MSE data. We launch a longitudinal study with 822 participants, all of whom were women in the second trimester of their first pregnancy at the date of enrollment. In the first wave of the study, during pregnancy, we elicited the woman's MSE. In the second wave, approximately one year later, we measured maternal investments using the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory. The vast majority of study participants believe that the Cobb-Douglas technology of skill formation describes the process of child development accurately. We observed substantial heterogeneity in MSE about the impact of human capital at birth and investments in child development at age two. Family income explains part of this heterogeneity in MSE. The higher the family income, the higher the MSE about the impact of investment in child development. We find that a one-standard-deviation of MSE measured at pregnancy is associated with 11% of a standard deviation in investments measured when the child is approximately nine months old.

Persistence and Fade-Out of Educational-Intervention Effects: Mechanisms and Potential Solutions.

Some environmental influences, including intentional interventions, have shown persistent effects on psychological characteristics and other socially important outcomes years and even decades later. At the same time, it is common to find that the effects of life events or interventions diminish and even disappear completely, a phenomenon known as fadeout. We review the evidence for persistence and fadeout, drawing primarily on evidence from educational interventions. We conclude that 1) fadeout is widespread, and often co-exists with persistence; 2) fadeout is a substantive phenomenon, not merely a measurement artefact; and 3) persistence depends on the types of skills targeted, the institutional constraints and opportunities within the social context, and complementarities between interventions and subsequent environmental affordances. We discuss the implications of these conclusions for research and policy.

Decomposing Trends in Inequality in Earnings into Forecastable and Uncertain Components.

A substantial empirical literature documents the rise in wage inequality in the American economy. It is silent on whether the increase in inequality is due to components of earnings that are predictable by agents or whether it is due to greater uncertainty facing them. These two sources of variability have different consequences for both aggregate and individual welfare. Using data on two cohorts of American males we find that a large component of the rise in inequality for less skilled workers is due to uncertainty. For skilled workers, the rise is less pronounced.

Early life height and weight production functions with endogenous energy and protein inputs.

We examine effects of protein and energy intakes on height and weight growth for children between 6 and 24 months old in Guatemala and the Philippines. Using instrumental variables to control for endogeneity and estimating multiple specifications, we find that protein intake plays an important and positive role in height and weight growth in the 6-24 month period. Energy from other macronutrients, however, does not have a robust relation with these two anthropometric measures. Our estimates indicate that in contexts with substantial child undernutrition, increases in protein-rich food intake in the first 24 months can have important growth effects, which previous studies indicate are related significantly to a range of outcomes over the life cycle.

Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation.

This paper formulates and estimates multistage production functions for child cognitive and noncognitive skills. Output is determined by parental environments and investments at different stages of childhood. We estimate the elasticity of substitution between investments in one period and stocks of skills in that period to assess the benefits of early investment in children compared to later remediation. We establish nonparametric identification of a general class of nonlinear factor models. A by-product of our approach is a framework for evaluating childhood interventions that does not rely on arbitrarily scaled test scores as outputs and recognizes the differential effects of skills in different tasks. Using the estimated technology, we determine optimal targeting of interventions to children with different parental and personal birth endowments. Substitutability decreases in later stages of the life cycle for the production of cognitive skills. It increases in later stages of the life cycle for the production of noncognitive skills. This finding has important implications for the design of policies that target the disadvantaged. For some configurations of disadvantage and outcomes, it is optimal to invest relatively more in the later stages of childhood.

The Economics and Psychology of Inequality and Human Development.

Recent research on the economics of human development deepens understanding of the origins of inequality and excellence. It draws on and contributes to personality psychology and the psychology of human development. Inequalities in family environments and investments in children are substantial. They causally affect the development of capabilities. Both cognitive and noncognitive capabilities determine success in life but to varying degrees for different outcomes. An empirically determined technology of capability formation reveals that capabilities are self-productive and cross-fertilizing and can be enhanced by investment. Investments in capabilities are relatively more productive at some stages of a child's life cycle than others. Optimal child investment strategies differ depending on target outcomes of interest and on the nature of adversity in a child's early years. For some configurations of early disadvantage and for some desired outcomes, it is efficient to invest relatively more in the later years of childhood than in the early years.

Análise econômica da produção do Maracujazeiro amarelo em sistemas orgânico e convencional / Economical analysis of yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims. f. flavicarpa Deg.) production in organic and conventional systems

Este trabalho foi realizado no município de Maringá, localizado na região noroeste do Paraná, com o objetivo de analisar e comparar economicamente sistemas de produção orgânico e convencional de maracujazeiro-amarelo (Passiflora edulis Sims. f. flavicarpa Deg.). Para se montar a matriz de coeficientes técnicos, os custos de implantação e produção e os indicadores de lucratividade da cultura, os dados foram obtidos com extensionistas da região e baseados em trabalho de pesquisa, realizado na Fazenda Experimental de Iguatemi da Universidade Estadual de Maringá, no período de junho de 2002 a julho de 2004. O custo total de produção da cultura em dois anos agrícolas alcançou um valor 12,94% maior para o sistema convencional, e referente ao mesmoperíodo, o índice médio de lucratividade foi 21,39% maior para o sistema orgânico. O sistema orgânico de produção se mostrou viável economicamente, proporcionando maior lucratividade.

This work was carried out in the city of Maringá, located in the Northwest region of Paraná, with the aim of analyzingeconomically the yellow passion fruit crop (Passiflora edulis Sims. f. flavicarpa Deg.), comparing organic and conventional production systems. To estimate technical coefficients, planting and production costs, and profitability indicators of culture, the data weresurveyed from technicians of the region and based in experimental work, carried out at the Experimental Farm of Iguatemi from the Maringá State University, in the period of june/2002 to july/2004. The total production costs of the culture in two agricultural yearsreached a value 12.94% higher for the conventional system, and in this same period the medium index of profitability was 21.39% higher for the organic system. The organic production system was economically feasible and provided a larger index of profitability.

Prognóstico da doença de Weil em pacientes críticos: modelo prognóstico baseado em regressäo linear logística / Prognosis of Weil's disease in critical ill patients: prognostic model on logistic linear regression

Objetivo: Identificar os fatores relacionados à letalidade dos pacientes internados em terapia intensiva com diagnóstico clínico de doença de Weil. Local: Unidade Médico-Cirúrgica do Centro de Tratamento Intensivo (CTI) de um Hospital Universitário terciário urbano na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro - Brasil. Tipo de estudo: Coorte de início (revisäo de prontuários) sendo coletados dados clínicos, epidemiológicos, laboratoriais, bacteriológicos, terapêutica empregada e os escores prognósticos APACHE II, APACHE III, SAPS, SAPS II, MPM II (0) MPM II (24) e Odin. Pacientes: Todos os pacientes internados com doença de Weil no CTI. Período de estudo: De julho de 1981 a novembro de 1993. Análise estatística: Testes univariados - Teste de Fisher exato e qui-quadrado com correçäo de Yates para variáveis categóricas, na dependência do tamanho amostral, t-Student para variáveis contínuas paramétricas. Mann-Whitney rank sum para variáveis ordinais, regressäo linear, coeficiente de correlaçäo de Pearson, intervalo de confiança a 95 por cento. Teorema de Bayes e Teste Multivariado - Regressäo Linear Logística (RLL). Um valor de p<0,05 foi considerado significativo. Ponto final do estudo: Evoluçäo hospitalar (altas ou óbitos). Intervençöes: Nenhuma. Principais resultados: Foram revistos 44 prontuários observando-se letalidade hospitalar de 72,7 por cento (32/44). As seguintes variáveis foram estatisticamente relacionadas à letalidade: 1) sexo masculino (p<0,02); 2) número de disfunçöes de órgäos e sistemas (MODS) no 1( dia (p=0,002) e no 2( dia (p=0,03) de CTI; 3) disfunçäo respiratória (p=0,01); 4) hemorragia digestiva alta (HDA) no 1( dia (p=0,02) e no 2( dia (p=0,01) de CTI); 5) método dialítico empregado (hemodiálise x diálise peritoneal x sem necessidade de diálise (p=0,03); 6) evoluçäo com insuficiência renal aguda (IRA) oligúrica (p<0,02); 7) uso de altas doses de dopamina (>10 mcg/Kg/min) para manter a pressäo arterial (p=0,04); 8) exames de laboratório: trombocitopenia (p<0,01), acidose (p<0,05) e fósforo sérico elevado (p<0,05). Através da RLL (stepwise approach) foram selecionados três variáveis: 1) n( de MODS, 2) evoluçäo da IRA (oligúrica x nao-oligúrica) e 3) tipo de tratamento dialítico empregado. O modelo denominado de Weil apresentou as seguintes estimativas de sensibilidade, especificidade e classificaçäo correta de 91,67 por cento, 93,75 por cento e 93,18 por cento, respectivamente, utilizando-se o ponto de coorte em 50 por cento. A área sobre a curva ROC foi de 0,975. Tais números säo muito melhores do que aqueles apresentados pelos demais escores prognósticos. Observamos pior desempenho dos escores preditivos mais recentes. Conclusöes: A doença de Weil apresenta alta letalidade. O prognóstico é determinado principalmente pelo desenvolvimento de disfunçäo de múltiplos órgäos e sistemas, sendo...