Early Matters

Katharine Stevens interviews economist Arthur Rolnick, former senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis, about his longstanding work with the Minnesota Early Learning Scholarships (MELS) program. Launched 20 years ago, the MELS program now provides scholarships to parents with children from ages prenatal to five throughout Minnesota.  

Dr. Rolnick explains MELS’s core principles: 1) Target the most at-risk children, 2) Empower parents, and 3) Start prenatally. He also highlights the exceptional scalability of the MELS approach to expanding early education, which uses market forces to drive the expansion of high-quality programs. Finally, he calls for federal support and incentives to adopt this model nationwide. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Investing in early childhood development is a more effective economic development strategy than many conventional approaches. 
• Targeting the most at-risk children and empowering parental choice is essential to obtaining a significant return on investment. 
• The MELS approach utilizes market forces to drive the availability of quality programs and is easily scalable. 
• Federal support and incentives are needed to adopt this model on a larger scale across the US. 

 
ABOUT THE GUEST

Art Rolnick is an economist, who's been on the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 2010 He previously served as Co-Director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and, before that, worked for 40 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as a senior vice president and director of research. 

Art’s main expertise is in pre-Civil War banking, but he is well-known for his decades of work in early childhood and especially the Minnesota Early Learning Scholarships program, which he launched 20 years ago in Minneapolis. His work on early childhood development has garnered numerous awards, including those from the George Lucas Educational Foundation and the Minnesota Department of Health, both in 2007; he was also named 2005 Minnesotan of the Year by Minnesota Monthly magazine.

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Katharine Stevens interviews Chris Bullivant about the importance of social capital to a thriving society and his fascinating new report, The Early Years. The report emphasizes the crucial role of early nurturing care in building social capital, arguing that the foundation of social capital is formed through children’s secure attachment established in the birth-to-three period.

Bullivant explains the need to rebuild social capital to address the widespread breakdown of trust in society, and highlights challenges the U.S. faces in promoting social capital, including financial instability and isolation of parents with young children. He emphasizes the importance of public investment in the early years, calling for federal policies that can help parents build secure attachment with their young children through initiatives like paid family leave, the creation of family hubs, and boosting community organizations that can support parents.

Finally, Bullivant highlights the need for promoting better public understanding of attachment theory and the profound role of parents’ nurturing care in infant and toddler development.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Social capital refers to the rich network of relationships between individuals, including family, friends, and community organizations. 
• Secure attachment developed in the early years forms the basic building block of social capital and is crucial for positive mental health, educational attainment, economic success, and the ability to form caring, loving relationships. 
• Policy ideas such as paid family leave, family hubs, and support for community organizations can help build social capital and support parents in the early years. 
• A public education campaign is needed to promote better understanding of attachment theory and the importance of early nurturing care for infants and toddlers.  

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chris Bullivant is the director of the Social Capital Campaign, founded in 2021 to promote social capital and the institutions that create it. Prior to this work, Chris helped launch UnHerd, a British news and opinion website and two think tanks: U.K. 2020, which focused on improving environmental policy and global food security and the Center for Social Justice, a London-based think tank promoting government policies that tackle the root causes of poverty.

Chris has written for USA Toda

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In the second part of this two-part discussion, Katharine Stevens continues her conversation with economists James Heckman and Jorge Luis Garcia about their pioneering research on how improving parenting is the essential mechanism of effective early childhood programs, and their new paper, "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations."

They discuss why policies aiming to support young children's development must focus on families, the importance of considering incentives in making policy, how we need to broaden the concept of "investment" in early childhood beyond public spending, and the promise of home visiting as the lowest-cost, most scalable approach to supporting young children's development.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Parenting is the crucial driver of healthy early development.
• Public spending should be targeted at the socially and economically disadvantaged families who need help the most.
• Early childhood policy should focus on evidence-based approaches that improve parent-child interactions and support families in providing a loving, nurturing environment for their young children.
• Research should aim to understand the mechanisms of effective programs and emphasize replicability of evidence.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

James Heckman is a Nobel-prize winning economist, a longtime professor at the University of Chicago, and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development. He has devoted his professional life to understanding the origins of major social and economic problems as well as the economics of human flourishing. Learn more about Professor Heckman's work at bit.ly/3YToVs0.

Jorge Luis Garcia is a professor of applied micro-economics at Clemson University. His research focuses on the intersection of labor and development economics, aiming to design and evaluate social policies that help develop the economic conditions of countries and people. Learn more about Professor Garcia's work at bit.ly/44ruLlD.

RELATED WORK

• Read their new paper: "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations" at https://www.nber.org/papers/w30610.
• Listen to Part 1 of the conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2148289/episodes/13389213#.

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In this inaugural episode of the Center on Child and Family Policy's new podcast, Katharine Stevens interviews renowned economists James Heckman and Jorge Luis Garcia about their collaborative research on the transformational power of early childhood interventions to build human capital, and their new paper, "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations."

They discuss what's essential to conducting rigorous research in social science; why identifying the key mechanisms of effective programs is critical; how to evaluate the social efficiency of public spending; the promise of home visiting programs to improve child outcomes; and why we need to put families at the center of early childhood policy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Parenting plays the crucial role in promoting early childhood development and social mobility.
• Effective early childhood programs improve interactions between parents and their young children, with long-lasting effects on both children and families.
• Home visiting programs are a cost-effective way to advance early childhood development.
• Public spending on social programs should prioritize interventions that engage and empower families.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

James Heckman is a Nobel-prize winning economist, a longtime professor at the University of Chicago, and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development. He has devoted his professional life to understanding the origins of major social and economic problems as well as the economics of human flourishing. Learn more about Professor Heckman's work at: bit.ly/3YToVs0.

Jorge Luis Garcia is a professor of applied micro-economics at Clemson University. His research focuses on the intersection of labor and development economics, aiming to design and evaluate social policies that help develop the economic conditions of countries and people. Learn more about Professor Garcia's work at: bit.ly/44ruLlD.

RELATED WORK

• Read their new paper: "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations" at https://www.nber.org/papers/w30610.
• Listen to Part 2 of the conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2148289/episodes/13417302#.

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Subscribe to Early Matters:

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See the Center on Child and Family Policy's Work: www.ccfp.org

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Email the Show: [email protected].

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