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About the author
Melissa Chipman
Melissa Chipman is the Assignments Editor at Insider Louisville. She was born and raised in New England, but she's a Southerner by choice who relocated to Louisville from New Orleans 10 months after Hurricane Katrina. In addition to working for Insider Louisville, she has reported for The Louisville Paper, WFPL and other local and national media. Melissa is also the creator of the My Loueyville blog and co-host of the Louisville, Not Kentucky podcast. You can tweet her at @loueyville. Click here to read other articles by Melissa Chipman.
Economist Dr. James Heckman brings his award winning education equation to Louisville
Dr. James Heckman
One of the most influential economists in the world will be coming to Louisville to speak on the economic advantages of investing in early learning and childhood development.
Nobel Laureate and University of Chicago Professor of Economics Dr. James Heckman will speak at a luncheon at the Downtown Marriott on Wednesday at an event sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Heckman won his Nobel prize for his work in the 1970′s at the University of Chicago developing the “Heckman Correction.” According to his Laureate citation, the award was ”for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples.”
Later in his life he developed the “Heckman Equation” (he may be a Nobel Laureate, but he could use a ghost writer to come up with his theory names). The Heckman Equation has fueled his work in early childhood education. It states:
INVEST: Invest in educational and development resources for disadvantaged families to provide equal access to successful early human development.
-plus-
DEVELOP: Nurture early development of cognitive and social skills in children from birth to age five.
-plus-
SUSTAIN: Sustain early development with effective education through to adulthood.
equals…
GAIN: Gain a more capable, productive and valuable workforce that pays dividends to America for generations to come.
From the website for the event:
Heckman’s presentation will discuss how investing in early childhood education to increase high school graduation rates would boost Kentucky’s economy. For example, the Alliance for Excellent Education reports a 5 percent increase in male high school graduation rates is estimated to save $50 million in annual incarceration costs and crime-related expenditures. If that same 5 percent not only graduated but went to college, those average earnings would accrue an additional $37 million. If just one year’s dropouts could be converted to graduates, Kentucky would accrue an additional $4.3 billion over the lifetime of each graduating class.
For more information or for required reservations, contact Elizabeth Whitehouse at 1-502-782-0197 or Elizabeth.Whitehouse(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)ky.gov.