Interview with James Heckman

More than just the usual, this is a real interview, recommended.  Excerpt:

James Heckman:  Well, the reason why I’m skeptical is that the most salient work on Head Start is this new evaluation which came out last October. It actually came out later than I responded to Deming. I am skeptical for the following reason. It’s really heterogeneous, and I’m sure there are some very high quality programs and some very weak ones. The latest study showed very weak effects. That was a short-term followup. Head Start has never had a long-term followup.

I was surprised by the extent to which he defends Head Start, and to the extent he sees part of that program as Perry follow-ups.

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