Promoting Social Mobility
by James J. Heckman
Heckman points to early childhood experiences as the root of the divide between the skilled and the unskilled (by skills he means both cognitive and non-cognitive) in American society. This divide leads to rising inequality, both of opportunity and outcome, social polarization, and a slowdown in growth of economic productivity. Children born into disadvantaged environments are much more likely to be unskilled and continue to be disadvantaged in many facets of life if nothing is done, which also means that society as a whole misses out on the potential contributions of those people.
He suggests that smart social policy is the key to solving this problem and points out three important lessons for social policy:
1. Life success depends on more than cognitive skills. Non-cognitive skills also contribute to social success and have an impact on performance in assessments of cognitive skills, because they may be useful tools for completing those assessments.
2. Both cognitive and socio-emotional skills develop in early childhood, and their development depends on the family environment. Disadvantage students have a poorer quality of family time and other aspects of the family environment, and the disadvantage accumulates across generations. He believes that the primary measure of disadvantage is the quality of parenting.
3. Public policy focused on early interventions can make a significant difference to these troubling results. Experimental evidence shows positive and lasting results of early intervention on the disadvantaged, including improving cognitive and socio-emotional skills, and that they have a greater economic and social impact than later interventions.
He concludes by saying that the solution to the problem is not to throw money at it, but rather, it is to promote quality parenting and seek to improve the early life environments of disadvantaged children "while also respecting the primacy of the family, showing cultural sensitivity, and recognizing America's social diversity." This social policy, which he calls "predistribution," in contrast with redistribution, is more effective at promoting social inclusion, economic efficiency, and workforce productivity and is both fair and economically efficient itself.
by James J. Heckman
Heckman points to early childhood experiences as the root of the divide between the skilled and the unskilled (by skills he means both cognitive and non-cognitive) in American society. This divide leads to rising inequality, both of opportunity and outcome, social polarization, and a slowdown in growth of economic productivity. Children born into disadvantaged environments are much more likely to be unskilled and continue to be disadvantaged in many facets of life if nothing is done, which also means that society as a whole misses out on the potential contributions of those people.
He suggests that smart social policy is the key to solving this problem and points out three important lessons for social policy:
1. Life success depends on more than cognitive skills. Non-cognitive skills also contribute to social success and have an impact on performance in assessments of cognitive skills, because they may be useful tools for completing those assessments.
2. Both cognitive and socio-emotional skills develop in early childhood, and their development depends on the family environment. Disadvantage students have a poorer quality of family time and other aspects of the family environment, and the disadvantage accumulates across generations. He believes that the primary measure of disadvantage is the quality of parenting.
3. Public policy focused on early interventions can make a significant difference to these troubling results. Experimental evidence shows positive and lasting results of early intervention on the disadvantaged, including improving cognitive and socio-emotional skills, and that they have a greater economic and social impact than later interventions.
He concludes by saying that the solution to the problem is not to throw money at it, but rather, it is to promote quality parenting and seek to improve the early life environments of disadvantaged children "while also respecting the primacy of the family, showing cultural sensitivity, and recognizing America's social diversity." This social policy, which he calls "predistribution," in contrast with redistribution, is more effective at promoting social inclusion, economic efficiency, and workforce productivity and is both fair and economically efficient itself.