On July 2, Professor James J. Heckman, the 2000 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, and the recipient of the 2019 Chinese Government Friendship Award, visited IESR on the Shipai Campus of Jinan University. This marks the seventh time Professor Heckman has visited IESR, where he has served as the Chair of the Advisory Board since its foundation in 2015.
In the morning, Professor Heckman delivered a lecture entitled “The Microdynamics and Measurement of Early Childhood Learning” in the auditorium, with over 350 participants on-site. The lecture was hosted by Professor Shuaizhang Feng, Dean of IESR.
Opening Remark by Professor Shuaizhang Feng
In his speech, Professor Heckman introduced the latest empirical results of “China REACH” (Rural Education and Child Health Project), a home-visiting project conducted in Gansu, China. This project aims to analyze the dynamic process of children's early learning and skill formation by assessing and tracking their skill levels at different stages. The results show that scientific parenting guidance for parents and guardians through home visits significantly improves children's skill levels in multiple dimensions. The key mechanism is the effective interaction between home visitors and child caregivers, highlighting the importance of empowering child caregivers in early education.
Moreover, Professor Heckman emphasized the importance of early educational intervention. The results also show that the earlier the children participated in the project and the longer the intervention time, the better they performed in subsequent tests, thus verifying the dynamic complementarity of learning and skill formation. In addition, the study also established a skill formation model with a micro-dynamic foundation, further testing the hypothesis of potential skill invariance. Based on low-cost and high-efficiency experiments, Professor Heckman stressed the importance of this research, providing a solid theoretical and empirical basis for developing effective early childhood learning and education intervention strategies.
After the lecture, Professor Heckman had face-to-face discussions with six students of the “Talents Training Program in Economics,” a special program initiated by IESR to tap the research potentials of undergraduate students. Professor Feng Xing, president of Jinan University, and Professor Naihua Gu, vice president of Jinan University, also attended the event and discussed relevant issues with Professor Heckman and students. The student representatives consulted Professor Heckman on early childhood development, intervention for children in difficult circumstances, and measurement methods with detailed answers. They emphasized that the insights of this prestigious economist highly inspired them. Professor Heckman was also highly impressed by the students’ vision and their active involvement in society.
During Professor Heckman’s visit to Jinan University, more than 500 teachers and students were attracted to participate in a series of events. In the past nine years, Professor Heckman has worked closely with IESR. In March 2016, Professor Heckman visited IESR for the first time and set the foundation for IESR’s future cooperation with the University of Chicago. In June 2016, IESR and HCEO co-organized the first Guangzhou Summer School on Socioeconomic Inequality. In September 2016, IESR and CEHD co-launched the Longitudinal Study of Children’s Development in Mianzhu to explore how to measure the traits, skills, and preferences that determine important life outcomes for children. In July 2018, IESR and CEHD formally co-launched the Chicago–Jinan Joint Initiative on the Study of Human Development, which served as a research home for our students/faculty and visiting scholars from guest institutions. With the massive support of Professor Heckman, IESR is looking forward to welcoming more international-renowned scholars in the future.
