Alessandro Toppeta on Effective families or effective schools? Experimental evidence on fostering children's numeracy

Alessandro Toppeta presents at the WIDER Seminar Series on 12 March 2025.

Effective families or effective schools? Experimental evidence on fostering children's numeracy

Abstract

This paper studies if high-quality primary education can serve as an equalizer for children exposed to diverse rearing practices at home in Colombia. Building on well-established literatures demonstrating that parenting interventions and teacher professional development programs can effectively support children's learning, we randomly assign children to a sequence of treatment combinations: only a parenting intervention, only a teacher intervention, both interventions, or no intervention. 

The two treatments, both individually and together, have a similar effect on children's standardized math scores, with an impact of 0.20 standard deviations compared to receiving no interventions. We find no complementarities between the two interventions, suggesting that effective schools can compensate for inequalities in family rearing practices.

About the presenter

Alessandro Toppeta is an Assistant Professor of Economics at SOFI, Stockholm University. He received my Ph.D. in Economics from University College London (UCL) in 2023.

He is interested in studying questions related to inequality and poverty through the lens of human capital. 

He is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (CeMMAP) and a Research Affiliate at the Stone Centre (UCL).

WIDER Seminar Series

The WIDER Seminar Series showcases the latest research on key topics in development economics. It provides a forum for senior and early-career researchers, both in-house and external, to present recent and ongoing work related to UNU-WIDER’s current work programme.

In addition to providing a forum for both academic debate and training, the series presents an opportunity for policymakers and others interested in development to learn about the latest research methods and findings.

The WIDER Seminar Series events take place on Wednesdays. All those interested are invited to register and attend via Zoom or in person.