The Returns to Positive Social Development in Childhood

Mary Silles from NUI Galway produced a working paper at Copenhagen's Center for Applied Microeconometrics in 2005, entitled "Personality, Education and Earnings". The paper uses the UK National Child Development Study to examine the effects of social maladjustment in childhood on schooling and earnings. "Net of differences in family background and cognitive ability, estimates suggest that early social maladjustment scores are associated with lower labor market earnings and schooling. These results suggest that there are substantial returns to fostering positive social development in childhood."