CeDEx Seminar - Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch (University of Düsseldorf)

The Right Timing Matters: Identifying Sensitive Periods in the Formation of Socio-Emotional Skills

In a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with about 3,200 children in grades 2 to 5 in Bangladesh we examine the existence of sensitive periods in the formation of socio-emotional skills. In sensitive periods, returns to investments into skills are particularly high. Using a novel design for identifying sensitive periods, we implement the same intervention in different school grades to study its age-specific treatment effects on children's self-control, patience, and prosociality. Our results identify sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience around the ages 7 and 8, while prosociality appears to be similarly malleable throughout ages 7 to 11.