Current Working Papers

Attanasio, O., Cunha, F., and Jervis, P. (2019). Subjective Parental Beliefs: Their Measurement and Role, NBER Working Paper 26516.

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Cunha, F., Lee, J. Y., Sethi, R. (2024). If You Build It, They Will Come: A Demand Analysis of Household-Level Childcare Choices. Texas Policy Lab Working Paper.

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Cunha, F. and Lee, M. (2023). One Says Goodbye, Another Says Hello: Recruitment and Retention in the ECE Workforce, NBER Working Paper 31869.

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​​Cunha, F., Hu, Q., Salvati, A., Wolpin, K., and Zeng, R. (2021). An Evaluation of the Alief Independent School District Jump Start Program: Using a Model to Recover Mechanisms from an RCT.

 

Cunha, F., Hu, Q., Xia, Y., and Zha, N. (2023). Reducing Bullying: Evidence from a Parental Involvement Program on Empathy Education. NBER Working Paper 30827.

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Publications

Wang, F., Puentes, E., Behrman, J., Cunha, F. (2024). You are What Your Parents Think: Height and Local Reference Points,  Journal of Econometrics, 243(1-2), 571-590.

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Rule, A., Ma, Zhang, X., Pappas, L., Rule, A., Gao, Y., Dill, S., Feng, T., Zhang, Y. Wang, H. Y., Cunha, F., and Rozelle, S. (2024). Does Urbanization Close the 30-Million Word Gap? A LENA Study from Rural and Peri-Urban China, Child Development, Vol. 95(2), e74-e92.

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Cunha, F., Gerdes, M., Hu, Q., Nihtianova, S. (2024) Language Environment and Maternal Expectations: An Evaluation of the LENA Start Program, Journal of Human Capital, 18(1), 105-139.

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Cunha, F., Nielsen, E., Williams, B. (2022). The Econometrics of Early Childhood Human Capital and Investments, Annual Review of Economics, Vol. 13(1), 515-538.

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Cunha, F., Elo, I., Culhane, J. (2022). Maternal Subjective Expectations about the Technology of Skill Formation Predict Investments in Children One Year Later, Journal of Econometrics, 231(3-32).

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Bailey, D., Duncan, G., Cunha, F., Foorman, B., and Yeager, D. (2020). Persistence and Fade-Out of Educational-Intervention Effects: Mechanisms and Potential Solutions, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol. 21(2), pp. 55-97.

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Puentes, E., Cunha, F., Adair, L., Borja, J., Hoddinott, J., Malluccio, J., Martorell, R., Stein, A., and Behrman, J. (2016). Early Life Height and Weight Production Functions with Endogenous Energy and Protein Inputs, Economics and Biology, Vol. 22(2), pp. 65–81.

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Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2016). Decomposing Trends in Inequality in Earnings into Forecastable and Uncertain Components. (2016). Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 34(S2), pp. 31-65.

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Cunha, F. (2014). Subjective Rationality, Parenting Styles, and Investments in Children. In P. Amato, A. Booth, S. McHale, & J. Van Hook (Eds.), Diverging destinies: Families in an era of increasing inequality, Chapter 2, pp. 45-55, New York: Springer.

 

Cunha, F., Karahan, F., and Soares, I. (2011). Returns to Skills and the College Premium, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, Vol 43(IS1), pp. 39-86.

 

Cunha, F. (2011). Recent Developments in the Estimation of Production Functions of Skills, Fiscal Studies, Vol. 32(2), pp. 297-316.

 

Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., and Schennach, S. M. (2010). Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skill Formation, Econometrica, Vol. 78(3), pp. 883-931.

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2010). Investing in our Young People, in A. Reynolds, ed., Cost-Effective Early Childhood Programs in the First Decade: A Human Capital Integration, Chapter 18, pp. 381-414, New York: Cambridge University Press, (with James Heckman).

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2009). Human Capital Formation in Childhood and Adolescence, CESifo Journal for Institutional Comparisons, Vol. 7(4), pp. 22-28.

 

Cunha, F. (2009). Crossing the Finish Line: A Review Article, Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 3(4), pp. 354-378.

 

Araujo A., Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., Moura, R. (2009). Early Childhood Education and its Importance in Reducing Violence, in F. Giambiagi, R. Henriques, S. Pessoa, and F. Velloso, eds., Educação Básica no Brasil: Construindo um Futuro Melhor, Chapter 5, pp. 95-116, Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier, (in Portuguese).

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2009). The Economics and Psychology of Inequality and Human Development, Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 7(2-3), pp. 1-48.

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2008). Formulating, Identifying, and Estimating the Technology for the Formation of Skills, Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 43(4), pp. 738-782.

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2008). A Framework for the Analysis of Inequality, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Vol. 12(S2), pp. 315-354.

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2007). Identifying and Estimating the Distributions of Ex Post and Ex Ante Returns to Schooling: A Survey of Recent Developments, Labour Economics, Vol. 14(6), pp. 870-893.

 

Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., and Navarro, S. (2007). The Identification and Economic Content of Ordered Choice Models with Stochastic Cutoffs, International Economic Review, Vol. 48(4), pp. 1273-1309.

 

Cunha, F., and Heckman, J. J. (2007). The Technology of Skill Formation, American Economic Review, Vol. 97(2), pp. 31-47.

 

Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., Lochner, L., and Masterov, D. (2006). Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation, in E. Hanushek and F. Welch, eds., The Handbook of Economics of Education, Chapter 12, pp. 697-812; Amsterdam: North Holland.

 

Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., and Navarro, S. (2006). Counterfactual Analysis of Inequality and Social Mobility, in G. Fields, D. Grusky and S. Morgan eds., Mobility and Inequality: Frontiers of Research from Sociology and Economics, Chapter 4, pp. 290-346, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.

 

Cunha, F., Heckman, J. J., and Navarro, S. (2005). Separating Uncertainty from Heterogeneity in Life Cycle Earnings, Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 57(2), pp. 191-261.
 

​​Old Working papers

Cunha, F., Elo, I., and Culhane, J. (2013). Eliciting Maternal Beliefs about the Technology of Skill Formation.​

 

Aizer, A., and Cunha, F. (2012). The Production of Child Human Capital: Endowments, Investments, and Fertility.​

 

Cunha, F. (2012). Gaps in Early Investments in Children.

 

Cunha, F. (2007). Investments in Children when Markets Are Incomplete.​