Professor Arthur Reynolds, Institute of Child Development, is co-editor of a new publication on the cost-effectiveness and impact of early childhood interventions. The publication, released by the Human Capital Research Collaborative (HCRC), offers a multidisciplinary approach to improving interventions, practices, and policies to optimize success from childhood into adulthood. “Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life: A Human Capital Integration” is based on research presented at the 2007 conference of HCRC, a partnership of the University of Minnesota and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

“Our focus on human capital highlights the identification of effective and cost-effective programs for public policy as well as key elements of their benefits,” said Reynolds, HCRC co-director.
During the October 2010 HCRC conference, experts focused more specifically on the impact of health on school readiness and later educational success. They explored the impact of nutrition, health disparities, parental mental health, interventions, and public policy on child development. Topics included preventing obesity in early childhood, how poverty in early childhood affects later health and well-being, the influence of nutrition on cognitive development, and the impact of the new health care law on children’s health.
See the University news release and the HCRC website for more information on the 2010 conference and publications.