All you really need to know pt. 1

James J. Heckman is a Nobel Prizewinning economist at the University of Chicago.

From his bio: "His recent research deals with such issues as evaluation of social programs, econometric models of discrete choice and longitudinal data, the economics of the labor market, and alternative models of the distribution of income."

Heckman is featured in a This American Life episode, "Going Big", in reference to a social program in New York City that is trying to solve urban poverty through early childhood intervention.

Heckman's work is cited in "Going Big" for his finding that traditional approaches to poverty such as job training are ineffective. Correspondent Paul Tough states:

"The premise behind job training is that young people who can't find a good job are just missing one particular skill or body of knowledge; teach them that and they'll be fine. What Heckman found is that the people in these programs had a much bigger problem. There were some very basic skills and abilities that they had never learned. And it was hard for them to absorb anything new without those skills."

Heckman reports that the missing skills included "the ability to communicate, to solve simple mathematical puzzles, to understand how to even read the newspaper, as well as the non-cognitive: self control, motivation, the ability to get out of bed, to show up at work on time, to engage and be open to ideas. These traits were in very serious short supply for individuals that I was looking at."