Author : Yamauchi, Futoshi; Liu, Yanyan; Cordova, Violy; Gascon, Fe; Abunyawan, Juliet; Sanchez, Felisberta

Summary : Early stage investment is becoming recognized as a critical input in human capital formation. This has dynamic impacts on human capital outcomes at subsequent stages. Prenatal and early childhood nutrition status, for instance, significantly determines the child’s readiness for schooling and labor market. School education is an early stage investment. Children cannot perform well at higher grades without sufficient acquisition of knowledge at lower grades. According to a study, high repetition rate, often observed at early grades in elementary school education, indirectly proves the importance of initial investments in determining higher grade performance and affects returns to schooling. Similarly, successful completion at the elementary school stage determines performance at the secondary school stage.