Family income and child cognitive development: A response to Marks

The association between childhood outcomes and family income has gained enormous attention from academics, researchers, and policymakers in recent years because understanding the socioeconomic gradient in child development is important for uncovering the mechanisms through which intergenerational transmission of poverty takes place, as well as for formulating policies to help children reach their full potential. A considerable literature has shown that low income is associated with all domains of child development, including educational attainment (e.g., Dahl and Lochner 2012; Duncan et al. 2014). A recent scientific study by Noble et al. (2015) also found that income is associated with brain surface area; especially for low-income children, small changes in income were associated with larger differences in surface areas..