The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is funding an interdisciplinary project at DICE headed by Prof. Dr. Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch with 850,000 euros over the next three years. The project will investigate what influences the development of non-cognitive skills in children and adolescents, as well as their significance for educational attainment, professional success or health.
Using a panel data set on non-cognitive skills of whole families in Bangladesh, built specifically for the project, and combining it with controlled randomized experiments, it will be possible for the first time to provide both innovative descriptive and causal evidence on the role of investment in the formation of non-cognitive skills between the ages of 6 and 16. The second step is to comprehensively explore the role of investment in children for the formation of their non-cognitive skills. This will involve looking at investment decisions made by parents, as well as analyzing the influence of the social environment beyond the family and examining the role of exogenous shocks, using the Corona Crisis as an example. The second step of the research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of investment in children's noncognitive abilities.
The goal of the research program is to decisively advance basic research on the emergence of noncognitive skills and thereby provide guidance to parents, teachers, and policymakers on how to support the development of positive noncognitive skills in children and adolescents.