The adult outcomes of children reflect a series of gradients between their
attainments at specific points in their lives and the prevailing socioeconomic
inequalities to which they are exposed. Knudsen, Heckman, Cameron, and
Shonkoff (2006), to cite only one example, summarize the literature on child
development—and in particular some of the work by James Heckman—in a
way that relates child development to adult social and labor market outcomes
through a recursive process. Socio-economic status influences a child’s health
and aptitudes in the early years—indeed even in utero—which in turn influences