Factors That Explain Changes in the Level of Human Capital of Children with Disabilities

• Main Author: Goetze, Linda D.
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1992
• Subjects: Economics
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4080; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5109&context=etd

This dissertation combines concepts from the human capital and early intervention literature to develop a theoretical and empirical model of child development relationships. This model is empirically estimated using data from the Early Intervention Research Institute's Longitudinal Study on the effects of intervention for young children with disabilities. The model is estimated using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) relating the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) scores to child, family, and early intervention variables. These relationships are also examined using a type of Sequential Method of Moments (SMM) estimation strategy that accounts for data and other problems such as endogeneity, censoring, and selectivity. The OLS and SMM estimates are compared to evaluate the influence of variables such as age, birth order, ethnicity, gender, education of the mother, income, number of siblings, and hours of early intervention service, among other forces, on the development of infant and preschool children with moderate to severe disabilities.