Disconnectedness among young adults can have several dimensions. From a socio-economic viewpoint, failure in school, unemployment and the lack of a partner are among the most important ones. In our sample of respondents to the SOEP Youth Questionnaire, approximately 13% of young people had been...

This study examines to which extent the quality of mother-child interaction during infancy can predict cognitive (IQ) and noncognitive skills (persistence) until pre-school age using data from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk. Mother-child interaction is measured by a ten minute video of a...

This paper analyses in a novel way how educational investments can improve human capital formation in Europe, based on a model of age-dependent skill formation featuring dynamic complementarities. Counterfactual investment policies are evaluated with an Atkinson-Sen welfare function. Investments...

This paper investigates the role of early life adversity and home resources in terms of competence formation and school achievement based on data from an epidemiological cohort study following 364 children from birth to adolescence. Results indicate that organic and psychosocial risks present in...

Manifold childhood impressions result from the interactions with adult caregivers and the environment. These impressions, be they beneficial or detrimental, shape individual skill formation and achievement over the life cycle. The novelty of the paper is that it bonds two different, hitherto...

This paper investigates the role of early life adversity and home resources in terms of competence formation and school achievement based on data from an epidemiological cohort study following 364 children from birth to adolescence. Results indicate that organic and psychosocial risks present in...

Many children grow up with parents working abroad. Economists are interested in the achievement and well-being of these home alone children to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration...

Many children grow up with parents working abroad. Economists are interested in the achievement and well-being of these "home alone" children to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration...

This paper investigates the development of basic cognitive, motor, and noncognitive abilities from infancy to adolescence. We analyse the predictive power of these abilities, initial risk conditions, and home resources for children's achievement. Our data are taken from the Mannheim Study of...