Essays on early childhood interventions

This thesis investigates the effectiveness of different early childhood interventions that aim to help poor families either by providing parental tools to improve parenting practices and overcome behavioral biases, expanding access to local educational resources, and providing cash to overcome financial constraints. The first essay studies whether an e-messaging program rooted on behavioral economics insights is effective to increase parental investment and reinforce parental commitment. The second essay estimates the effect of girls starting school earlier on health at birth of the next generation. The final essay evaluates the long-term effects of receiving unconditional cash transfers since conception and up to the first five years of life on education outcomes. The findings from this thesis suggest that investing in early child development is a good strategy for building human capital and reducing inequities. The results show that early childhood programs can be effective to improve certain short-term and long-term outcomes of those exposed, and even outcomes of the next generation.