CIRCE principal investigator Therese Nilsson was recently featured by EFN (Swedish Economy and Finance News) discussing research by her and her co-authors on how infant care and other early-life interventions can influence health, education, and later-life outcomes, including cancer risk.
This research builds on many years of work examining one of Sweden’s earliest public health initiatives: the 1930s introduction of infant care centers (today’s Swedish BVC). These centers offer regular health checks and practical guidance to parents during a child’s first year of life.
The findings are striking. Access to infant care in infancy was associated not only with stronger cognitive and economic outcomes later in life, but also with lower mortality decades later, including from hashtag#cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Overall, the results underscore the life-course significance of early preventive health interventions.
📺 Watch the EFN feature here (English subtitles available): https://efn.se/play/gratis-skollunch-ger-hogre-lon
📰 Read more about the research here (Swedish): https://efn.se/forskning-tidiga-insatser-ger-hogre-inkomster-och-langre-liv
📚 Scientific publications:
Bhalotra et al, The Review of Economics and Statistics 2022: https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article/104/6/1138/98192/Infant-Health-Cognitive-Performance-and-Earnings
Bhalotra et al, Journal of the European Economic Association 2017: https://academic.oup.com/jeea/article/15/5/1101/3073723