We use unique workplace and employee-level data to evaluate a major UK government pilot program to increase qualification-based, employer-provided training for low-qualified employees. We evaluate the program’s effect using a difference-in-differences approach. Using data on eligible employers and workers we find noevidence of a statistically significant effect on the take-up of training in the first 3 years of the program. Our results suggest that the program involved a high level of deadweight and that improving the additionality of the subsequent national program is crucial if it is to make a significant contribution toward government targets to increase qualification levels.

We examine the channels through which a randomized early childhood intervention in Colombia led to significant gains in cognitive and socio-emotional skills among a sample of disadvantaged children aged 12 to 24 months at baseline. We estimate the determinants of parents’ material and time investments in these children and evaluate the impact of the treatment on such investments. We then estimate the production functions for cognitive and socio-emotional skills. The effects of the program can be explained by increases in parental investments, emphasizing the importance of parenting interventions at an early age. (JEL I24, I28, J13, J24, O15)