“Quantifying Heckman: Are Governments in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Maximizing Returns on Investments in Early Childhood Development?”

“Quantifying Heckman: Are Governments in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Maximizing Returns on Investments in Early Childhood Development?” jointly produced by the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Social Policy Sections. The paper analyzes how much governments and development partners in the region are spending on ECD services using education and health expenditures as a proxy. The analysis draws inspiration from the seminal work of Nobel Laureate James Heckman (2008), which demonstrated that investments in the early years of life, especially in the first 1,000 days, achieve significantly higher returns than investments…. read more