“The debate between nature-nurture… is over“, rightly established UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in a new article of the The Lancet published last week. … [Read more...] about The brain and child development policies: the beauty and the beast?
Pope Francis Supports Breastfeeding
© Blog First Steps, IDB’s Social Protection and Health Division Jorge Mario Bergoglio is 77 years old. He was born in Flores, a typically middle-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires, and is a fan of San Lorenzo, my favorite soccer team (after Boca, that is!). On March 13 [link in Spanish], he celebrated his first anniversary in an office that has made him one of the most … [Read more...] about Pope Francis Supports Breastfeeding
More than Words
Do you think it matters how much children talk (expressive language) or how many words they recognize when they hear them (receptive language)? Literature shows that a child’s exposure to an environment rich and diverse in language between birth and age three is crucial for their language development and actually has important long-term impacts, like better school and labor … [Read more...] about More than Words
Bad boys
I am on my way back from Kingston, Jamaica, where the conference Early Childhood Development in the Caribbean took place on Thursday, November 14. The aim of the conference was to share recent findings of three studies by the IDB and distinguished researchers and stalwarts from the University of the West Indies (UWI). The press and TV cover the event very widely as not only … [Read more...] about Bad boys
Is Latin America different right from the start?
I am preparing my presentation on a recent IDB study for the 18th annual meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) conference in Mexico DF. LACEA is an international association of economists with research interest in Latin American issues. It was launched in 1992 to facilitate the exchange of ideas between economists and policy-makers. From its … [Read more...] about Is Latin America different right from the start?