Category Archives: Local variation in benefits

What does research say about the proposed expansion of Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently proposed a major expansion of the state’s pre-K program, called the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP).  From reports in Gongwer News Service, legislators and others have expressed various doubts about the proposed expansion. This blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits

ReadyNation issue brief on my book

Posted on June 7, 2012 by

ReadyNation has a new and improved version of an issue brief that summarizes my 2011 book, Investing in Kids. This issue brief summarizes the main points of my book, and accompanies this summary with some great graphics. Specifically, the issue brief … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits, National vs. state vs. local

How socially valuable is additional employment?

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

I have a new working paper available that looks at how job-creating policies should be evaluated in benefit-cost analyses. The paper is technical, and is mainly addressed to economists interested in benefit-cost analysis. However, the paper’s findings have some important … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs, Economic development, Local variation in benefits

Interpreting the conflicting evidence on Head Start effectiveness

Posted on September 12, 2011 by

The evidence on the effectiveness of Head Start is mixed. On the one hand, the recent random assignment study of Head Start found that test score effects of Head Start mostly disappeared by the end of first grade. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits, National vs. state vs. local

Top ten points about business incentives in my book

Posted on May 13, 2011 by

Although the main focus of my book is early childhood programs, I also extensively discuss business incentives.  Even for those interested primarily in early childhood programs, understanding the pros and cons of business incentives is important.  Political debates over state … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Incentive design issues, Local variation in benefits, National vs. state vs. local

Special education cost savings from pre-k programs can be higher for targeted pre-k programs, or if special education costs are higher, or if special education effects of a program are higher

Posted on April 8, 2011 by

In a previous post, I provided estimates of the savings in special education costs from a high-quality universal pre-k program. I stated that these cost savings started out at about 4% of the pre-k program’s costs in kindergarten. That is, … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits, Timing of benefits | 2 Comments

Metro area growth and business incentives

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

How might metro area growth affect the economic development benefits of business incentives? This topic is considered in chapter 9 of Investing in Kids. We might expect fast-growing metro areas to be less in need of new jobs.  If an … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment

Prevailing metro area growth trends: effects on economic development benefits of early childhood programs

Posted on February 9, 2011 by

I am exploring in a series of posts how a metro area’s characteristics might alter the economic development benefits of the area’s investments in early childhood programs or business incentives. This is important because we want to see whether these … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits

Metro area size and business incentives

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

In a previous post, I explored how the economic development benefits of a local area’s investment in early childhood programs might vary with the local area’s population size. In today’s post, I explore how metro area size might affect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment

Metro area size: effects on the economic development benefits of early childhood programs

Posted on February 4, 2011 by

My book, Investing in Kids, provides evidence that a state or local government’s investment in high-quality early childhood programs will have a payoff for that state or local area. That payoff is what I call “economic development benefits”: higher per … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment