James Heckman
James Heckman
James Joseph Heckmanis an American economist and Nobel laureate. He is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, Professor of Law at the Law School, and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago, a senior research fellow at the American Bar Foundation, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth19 April 1944
CountryUnited States of America
James Heckman quotes about
adequate children coming families generally race resources simply
I think race is very important. I think generally speaking, we've to face the general problem, which is that we are seeing more children coming out of families which simply don't give them adequate resources for their development.
center engines equipment fix longer people received remember skill teaching visiting zero
I remember that, one day, I was visiting one training center in the 1990s that was teaching people how to fix Volkswagen engines from the 1960s, which were no longer sold. So you were training people on a skill that had zero value. The reason is that they hadn't received any new equipment in 20 years.
classify felt mainstream variety
For a variety of reasons, I have always felt myself an outsider. I don't know how to classify myself in economics. I am a loner. I do not like groupthink, which, if anything, has become more important in economics. In addition, a lot of the values I hold are not the mainstream values in the profession.
liberal mathematics
I went to a liberal arts college, and as part of my background, I was majoring in mathematics and physics.
economists education explains kid matter poor returns versus
The traditional story of economists has been to say education explains what the returns are to school. I say, 'Okay, that's fine, but what explains the education? How much is just a matter of my giving you a poor kid versus a rich kid?'
evidence lifetime opportunity provided scientific study theory unite
The scientific study of labor economics provided the opportunity for me to unite theory with evidence my lifetime intellectual passion.
college high history interest interested science social
I had always had a deep interest in social science, history. So even when I was in high school, I was debating, and in college debating, and interested in contemporary events.
competing early exactly family forming great question sanctity skills teach values visions
There's no question that we have great value on the sanctity of the family, and there are a lot of competing visions about exactly how we teach a set of values and we teach skills to our children, especially in the early years when they're really forming their personalities, their personas, really.
close encourages exciting frank papers system workshop
Chicago is an exciting place which renews itself. The workshop system encourages close reading and frank discussions of papers and ideas.
couch groups lecture listening open remember sitting
I remember sitting there on my father's couch or my mother's couch, listening to this lecture about how there were two groups and we had to be separated. We've come a long way from this kind of open racism. And I think it's wonderful.
african crow improvement jim lifelong motivated park separate sources south startled
The separate water foundations, park benches, bathrooms and restaurants of the Jim Crow South startled me. These experiences motivated my lifelong study of the status of African Americans and the sources of improvement in that status.
catching children far hard healthy kids less likely lottery people raised rest school society succeed time
Some kids win the lottery at birth; far too many don't - and most people have a hard time catching up over the rest of their lives. Children raised in disadvantaged environments are not only much less likely to succeed in school or in society, but they are also much less likely to be healthy adults.
adult encourages environment growing kid kids living maybe nourishes protects succeed supports worst
You have kids growing up in some of the worst circumstances financially, living in some of the worst ghettos, and they succeed. They succeed because an adult figure, typically a mother, maybe a grandmother, nourishes the kid, supports the kid, protects the kid, encourages the kid to succeed. It's as if the environment never happened.
jobs doors self
Self-control, openness, the ability to engage with others, to plan and to persist - these are the attributes that get people in the door and on the job, and lead to productive lives.