Strengthening Benefit-Cost Analysis for Early Childhood Interventions

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Early Childhood Interventions

scholarly journals Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Package of Early Childhood Interventions to Improve Nutrition in Haiti

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (S1) ◽  
pp. 154-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Wong ◽  
Mark Radin
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
National Income ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Cost Ratio ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Base Case Scenario ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Early Childhood Interventions

We conduct a benefit-cost analysis of a package of early childhood interventions that can improve nutrition outcomes in Haiti. Using the Lives Saved Tool, we expect that this package can prevent approximately 55,000 cases of child stunting, 7,600 low-weight births and 28,000 cases of maternal anemia annually, if coverage reaches 90% of the target population. In addition, we expect these nutrition improvements will avoid 1,830 under-five deaths, 80 maternal deaths and 900,000 episodes of child illness every year. Those who avoid stunting will experience lifetime productivity benefits equivalent to five times gross national income per capita in present value terms, at a 5% discount rate. While previous benefit-cost analyses of this specific package have only estimated the lifetime productivity benefits of avoided stunting, this paper also accounts for reductions in fatal and non-fatal health risks. In the base case scenario, the annualized net benefits of the intervention equal Haitian gourdes 13.4 billion (USD 211 million) and the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) is 5.2. Despite these substantial benefits, the package may not be the most efficient use of a marginal dollar, with alternative interventions to improve human capital yielding BCRs approximately three to four times higher than the base estimate.

scholarly journals Using Benefit-Cost Analysis to Scale Up Early Childhood Programs through Pay-for-Success Financing

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy A. Temple ◽  
Arthur J. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Early Childhood Programs ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
The Government ◽  
Private Investors ◽  
Benefit Cost

Increasing access to effective preschool programs is a high priority at local, state, and federal levels. Recently, two initiatives to expand preschool programming in Illinois and Utah have used funds from private investors to scale up existing programs. Private-sector social impact investors provide funding to nonprofit or public preschool providers to increase the number of children served. If the measured outcomes from preschool participation meet predetermined goals, then the estimated government cost savings arising from these preschool interventions are used to repay the investors. Social impact investing with a “Pay-for-Success” contract can help budget-constrained governments expand proven or promising preventive interventions without the need to increase taxes. Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) plays a crucial role in helping to identify which social, educational, or health interventions are suitable for this type of innovative financing. Benefit-cost analysts are needed to design the structure of the success payments that the government will make to the private investors. This paper describes social impact borrowing as a new method for financing public services, outlines the contribution of BCA, and discusses the innovative use of social impact financing to promote scaling evidence-based Child-Parent Centers and other early childhood programs.

scholarly journals Toward Standardization of Benefit-Cost Analysis of Early Childhood Interventions

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn A. Karoly
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Early Childhood Programs ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Current State ◽  
Future Outcomes ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Early Childhood Interventions

A growing body of benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) of early childhood programs has been prompted by the increased demand for results-based accountability when allocating public and private sector resources. While the BCAs of early childhood programs serve to make such investments more compelling, there are limitations in the current state of the art, including a lack of standardization in the BCA methods used, from discount rates to shadow prices. The objective of this paper is to delineate a set of standards for conducting BCAs of early childhood programs. The paper reviews the existing evidence of the economic returns from early childhood programs that serve children and families in the first five years of life, discusses the challenges that arise in applying the BCA methodology such programs, highlights the variation in current methods used, and proposes a set of standards for applying the BCA methodology to early childhood programs. The recommendations concern issues such as the discount rate to use and the age to which costs and benefits should be discounted; stakeholder disaggregation; outcomes to value, the associated values, and projections of future outcomes; accounting for uncertainty; sensitivity analysis; and reporting of results. The proposed standards can guide the choices that analysts need to make about the methods to use when performing BCAs for one or more early childhood programs and they can support greater transparency in the results the analysts provide. The standards can also support consumers of the BCA results in their need to understand the methods employed and the comparability across different studies.

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