A new antipoverty program in Mexico, PROGRESA, provides monetary transfers to families that are contingent upon their children's regular attendance at school. The benefit levels vary with the grade level and gender of the child and are intended to offset the opportunity costs of not sending...

We examine the importance of family background for early childhood development (ECD) using data collected in 2001 from 3,556 children ages 0-36 months in three regions of the Philippines. We focus on four main research questions: (1) are associations of family background with ECD in part...