When is the Right Time to Invest in Children? – by Leah Goldstein Moses

During the United Front Children’s Briefing last week, #kidsbrief2012, one of the panelists mentioned a study that explored when investments are made and the types of outcomes you can predict based on those investments. Flavio Cunha and James Heckman’s results, described in Investing in our Young People, show that the different types of investments make a greater difference at different stages of youth development. Investments in young children, whether focused on their cognitive or noncognitive (social) skills, have a strong payoff, but that those noncognitive skills may be of increasing importance in later years.