National Economics University

E-PhD Programme Seminar Series

‘Parental Investment and Child Development’

by

Duc Thanh Nguyen

Ph.D. in Economics, Concordia University, Canada

Time and Venue

Time: 16h

Date: 3 Sep 2026

Venue: Room 15.01, Level 15, Building A1, National Economics University, 207 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

This paper uses high-quality longitudinal data from the Young Lives survey to explore the dynamic formation of human capital by modeling the joint evolution of cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, and health. I develop and estimate dynamic structural production function models of human capital with endogenous parental investments to examine dynamic complementarities and interactions among different inputs in forming child human capital. A maximum likelihood approach is used to estimate the joint distribution of latent factors, which are proxied by observable measures and dynamic CES production functions of human capital. The results show strong effects of parental investments on cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, and health, while investments themselves are driven by parental skills and resources. There are dynamic complementarities among the inputs in human capital production, implying that returns to investments are higher for children with better initial conditions. These results imply that children with better backgrounds get more investments, and they also use these investments more productively. The estimates also provide evidence of self-productivity and cross-productivity across dimensions of human capital. The self-effects, cross-effects and dynamic complementarities together become a dynamic multiplier effect mechanism of human capital accumulation. This effect mechanism leads to substantially different developmental trajectories and substantial increases in inequality. The findings highlight the importance of policies and interventions boosting investments in children from disadvantaged backgrounds at early ages, contributing to the literature on inequality and intergenerational mobility.

About presenter

Dr. Duc Thanh Nguyen received his Ph.D. in Economics from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. His research interests include the Economics of Education, Health Economics, Labor Economics, Development Economics, Applied Econometrics, and Policy Evaluation. His doctoral research examines human capital formation, the role of cognitive and noncognitive skills in education and labor market outcomes, and the health and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization, using advanced structural and applied econometric methods. He has extensive experience in research design, data management, econometric modelling, and statistical programming using R, MATLAB, Stata and SAS. He has several years of teaching experience in macroeconomics, statistics, data analysis and development economics at Concordia University and the National Economics University.

About series

This seminar series is part of the E-PhD Program at National Economics University. It targetsPhD students, early-career researchers, and senior faculty who find interested in doing research in the areas of economics, business, management, and other inter-disciplinary fields of social science. The series is a platform for the wider research community to exchange ideas, networks and collaborations