The Early Years: Child Well-Being and the Role of Public Policy (Development in the Americas)

The Early Years Analyzes The Development Of Latin American And Caribbean Children And Makes A Compelling Case For Government Intervention In What Is Instinctively A Family Affair. Spending On Effective Programs For Young Children Is An Investment That, If Done Well, Will Have Very High Returns, While Failure To Implement Such Programs Will Lower The Returns On The Hefty Investments Being Made In Primary, Secondary, And Higher Education. Policies For Young Children Belong At The Core Of A Country's Development Agenda, Alongside Policies To Develop Infrastructure And Strengthen Institutions. However, If The Services Provided (or Funded) By Governments Are To Benefit Children, They Must Be Substantially Better Than What Is Currently Being Delivered In The Region. This Book Offers Suggestions For Improving Public Policy In This Critical Area.--publisher's Web Site. Raising Children: The Case For Government Intervention -- A Report Card On Early Childhood Development -- Family First -- Daycare Services: It's All About Quality -- Early Schooling: Teachers Make The Difference -- More Bang For The Buck: Investing In Early Childhood Development -- Drawing Up An Institutional Architecture -- The Task At Hand: Anything But Child's Play. Edited By Samuel Berlinski And Norbert Schady. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The Early Years analyzes the development of Latin American and Caribbean children and makes a compelling case for government intervention in what is instinctively a family affair. Spending on effective programs for young children is an investment that, if done well, will have very high returns, while failure to implement such programs will lower the returns on the hefty investments being made in primary, secondary, and higher education. Policies for young children belong at the core of a country's development agenda, alongside policies to develop infrastructure and strengthen institutions. However, if the services provided (or funded) by governments are to benefit children, they must be substantially better than what is currently being delivered in the region. This book offers suggestions for improving public policy in this critical area. This book is open access under a CC-IGO BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license. The Early Years analyzes the development of Latin American and Caribbean children and makes a compelling case for government intervention in what is instinctively a family affair. Spending on effective programs for young children is an investment that, if done well, will have very high returns, while failure to implement such programs will lower the returns on the hefty investments being made in primary, secondary, and higher education. Policies for young children belong at the core of a country's development agenda, alongside policies to develop infrastructure and strengthen institutions. However, if the services provided (or funded) by governments are to benefit children, they must be substantially better than what is currently being delivered in the region. This book offers suggestions for improving public policy in this critical area. Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Raising Children: The Case for Government Intervention....Pages 1-23 A Report Card on Early Childhood Development....Pages 25-54 Family First....Pages 55-89 Daycare Services: It’s All about Quality....Pages 91-119 Early Schooling: Teachers Make the Difference....Pages 121-147 More Bang for the Buck: Investing in Early Childhood Development....Pages 149-178 Drawing Up an Institutional Architecture....Pages 179-201 The Task at Hand: Anything but Child’s Play....Pages 203-210 Back Matter....Pages 211-262 This book is open access under a CC-IGO BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license. Children are the future of Latin America and the Caribbean. This book analyses the development of children in the early years of their life and makes a compelling case for government intervention in what is instinctively a family affair Economics, Development Economics, Social Policy, Children, Youth and Family Policy, Sociology, Childhood and Youth, Development, Children and Youth, International Economics