Human Capital Development in Children and Youth: Perspectives, Policies and Interventions
The Research Group on Human Capital held its first workshop on Friday, October 3, 2014, at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Six academic researchers presented recent work. The presentations primarily featured empirical research using microeconometric models, with a particular emphasis on questions of identification of causal effects. The workshop was intended to promote discussion and exchanges on the theme of human capital in children and youth, broadly speaking, with a special interest in the role of public policies and interventions. Topics covered included family policies like maternity and paternity leaves, subsidized child care and types of child care, education issues, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, parental practices and parental labor supply. The target audience was academics (professors, researchers, grad students), staff from institutions like Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centres, policymakers from relevant governmental entities and administrators from relevant organizations with an interest in the topic.
Registration is now closed.
The workshop took place at the University of Quebec in Montreal, building Président-Kennedy, 201 Président-Kennedy Avenue (Place-des-Arts metro station), room PK-1140, from 9:25 AM to 4:30 PM.
Workshop schedule
8:30 AM to 9:25 AM — Registration, coffee and pastries served
9:25 AM to 9:30 AM — Introductory remarks (Marie Connolly, ESG UQAM)
9:30 AM to 10:15 AM — Catherine Haeck, ESG UQAM: Prenatal Nutritional Program and Child Health at Birth: Empirical Evaluation of the Impact of the OLO Program in Canada (with Pierre Lefebvre, ESG UQAM)
10:15 AM to 10:45 AM — Coffee break
10:45 AM to 11:30 AM — Janice Compton, University of Manitoba: Economic Influences on Patterns of Birth Seasonality in Canada (with Lindsay Tedds, University of Victoria)
11:30 AM to 12:15 PM — Michael Kottelenberg, Queen’s University: Universal Childcare, Child Obesity, and the BMI Distribution
12:15 PM to 1:30 PM — Lunch
1:30 PM to 2:15 PM — Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, McGill University: Parental Education and Offspring Mental Health: Evidence from the US and Canada
2:15 PM to 3:00 PM — Christopher J. Ruhm, University of Virginia: The Effects of Paid Family Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes (with Charles L. Baum, Middle Tennessee State University)
3:00 PM to 3:30 PM — Coffee break
3:30 PM to 4:15 PM — Chris Herbst, Arizona State University: Are Parental Welfare Work Requirements Good for Children? Evidence from Age-of-Youngest-Child Exemptions
4:15 PM to 4:30 PM — General discussion and closing remarks (Philip Merrigan, ESG UQAM)
4:30 PM to 5:45 PM — Cocktail
6:00 PM — Conference dinner (by invitation only)
The organizers wish to thank the FRQSC, CIRPÉE and QICSS for their support.