IQ more variable than previously thought

It has generally been thought that IQ is fairly stable from the teen years onwards. Non-cognitive ability however has been seen as more malleable & this idea has featured in Jim Heckman's work especially since non-cognitive ability seems to be quite important for labour market outcomes. However based on this study it now seems that IQ varies much more than previously thought for teenagers. What is not clear is whether it can be actively increased by interventions.

Fame at last

This is not a party political broadcast but it is interesting to see that Fine Gael's Reinventing Government's policy document cite's Jim Heckman's work on the high returns to early childhood education and also mentions the "Preparing for Life" program being evaluated at the Geary Institute.

Heckman Equation Website

Thanks to Colm for sending on the link to the Heckman equation website. Most people who read the blog are familiar with the large volume of research conducted by Professor Heckman. Heckman is one of the most cited economists in the history of the discipline and won the Nobel Prize in 2000.  Anyone working in areas such as child policy, social policy, education evaluation and related disciplines should look at this website. It contains several short videos explaining the basic rationale of Heckman's ideas on educational investment.  It also contains guides to explaining the Heckman curve to policy audiences and even a poster of the Heckman curve. Heckman's work on this is one of the most important ideas to come out of Economics and, to use the TED line, these definitely are ideas worth spreading. My colleagues in Geary have been collaborating with Heckman on a major project in this area based in Dublin, details of which are on this website .

Cunha and Heckman IZA Paper - Investing in Young People

Investing in Our Young People
by Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman
(July 2010)

Abstract:
This paper reviews the recent literature on the production of skills of young persons. The literature features the multiplicity of skills that explain success in a variety of life outcomes. Noncognitive skills play a fundamental role in successful lives. The dynamics of skill formation reveal the interplay of cognitive and noncognitive skills, and the presence of critical and sensitive periods in the life-cycle. We discuss the optimal timing of investment over the life-cycle.
Text: See Discussion Paper No. 5050  

NBER Paper: Heckman and Jacobs: Polices to Create and Destroy Human Capital in Europe

Policies to Create and Destroy Human Capital in Europe

James J. Heckman, Bas Jacobs

NBER Working Paper No. 15742*
Issued in February 2010
NBER Program(s): ED LS PR

Trends in skill bias and greater turbulence in modern labor markets put wages and employment prospects of unskilled workers under pressure. Weak incentives to utilize and maintain skills over the life-cycle become manifest with the ageing of the population. Policies to promote human capital formation reduce welfare state dependency among the unskilled and offset inefficiencies in human capital formation. Skill formation features strong dynamic complementarities over the life-cycle. Investments in the human capital of children have higher returns than investments in the human capital of older workers. There is no trade-off between equity and efficiency at early ages of human development but there is a substantial trade-off at later ages. Later remediation of skill deficits acquired in early years often does not meet the cost-benefit criterion. Positive returns to active labor market and training policies are doubtful. Skill formation is impaired when the returns to skill formation are low due to low skill use and insufficient skill maintenance later on in life. High marginal tax rates and generous benefit systems reduce labor force participation rates and hours worked and thereby lower the utilization rate of human capital. Tax-benefit systems redistribute resources from outsiders to insiders in labor markets, which can be both distortionary and inequitable. Actuarially fairer early retirement and pension schemes reduce the incentives to retire early and strengthen incentives for human capital investment by increasing the time-horizon over which returns to human capital are harvested.

Freakonomics etc

This little piece from the U.Chicago Magazine has a nice little discussion of the Freakonomics approach centering on Jim Heckman's [critical] view. I have read some really good pieces in that publication. Shame we don't have anything remotely equivalent.

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0910/features/chicago_schooled.shtml#sumo