The Human Capital Study was carried out between 2002 and 2004 by a multidisciplinary research team representing Emory University, the University of Pennsylvania, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP). It is a follow-up study of former participants of the INCAP Longitudinal Study of 1969-77, a randomized, community trial of nutrition supplementation.

The Human Capital Study is the latest in a series of efforts to trace the effects of improved early childhood nutrition on adult function. The subjects of study were 26-41 years of age in 2003, the midpoint of data collection; this allowed for the collection of data on adult body size and composition, health and lifestyle characteristics, education and intellectual performance, marriage formation and fertility, and, most importantly, occupation, income and wealth.

Of the 2,392 persons in the 1969-77 sample: 1,855 (78%) were determined to be alive and living in Guatemala, 11% had died, 8% had migrated abroad, and nothing could be learned about the remaining 4%. Of the 1,855 candidates for follow-up in 2002-4: 1,113 lived in the original villages, 155 lived in nearby villages, 419 lived in or near Guatemala City, and 168 lived elsewhere in Guatemala. Of the 1,855: 1,571 (85%) completed at least one instrument during the 2002-4 data collection.

This web site contains the basic information related to the data collected on these 1,570 persons and the procedures to follow in order to request restricted access to this dataset by those qualified researchers interested in pursuing secondary data analyses.

The Human Capital Study Team

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the US National Institutes of Health (R01 TW-05598: PI Martorell; R01 HD-046125:PI Stein) and the US National Science Foundation (SES0136616: PI Behrman; SES 0211404: PI Maluccio) for activities carried out between 2001-2006.

For additional information, email: human.capital@sph.emory.edu