Investing in Our Children: What We Know and Don't Know About the Costs and Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions [Paperback]

Peter C. Rydell (Author), Lynn A. Karoly (Author), Susan S. Everingham (Author), Jill Hoube (Author), Rebecca Kilburn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0833025309 | ISBN-13: 978-0833025302 | Edition: 1

The authors find that well-targeted early intervention programs for at-risk children, such as nurse home visits to first-time mothers and high-quality preschool education, can yield substantial advantages to participants in terms of emotional and cognitive development, education, economic well-being and health.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Economic analyses can help early intervention research inform policy and practice. This book represents a balanced, thoughtful analysis of such programs, including illustrative economic analyses, that will be an enormously useful resource for policy planners and early intervention researchers.
David Olds, PhD


In the most comprehensive study to date of programs designed to improve the lives of poor children, RAND has found that investments in the first five years of childhood yield substantial and lasting benefits.
Los Angeles Times,

From the Publisher

Around the beginning of 1997, RAND was approached by the I AmYour Child Early Childhood Public Engagement Campaign to conductan independent, objective review of the scientific evidenceavailable on early childhood interventions. Early childhood interventionswere defined as attempts by government agencies or otherorganizations to improve child health and development, educationalattainment, and economic well-being. The aim was to quantify thebenefits of these programs to children, their parents, and society atlarge. Funding for the project was secured from The California WellnessFoundation.RAND's Criminal Justice Program and Labor and Population Programestablished an interdisciplinary research team including twoeconomists, a criminologist, two mathematical modelers, and a developmentalpediatrician. As the project evolved, it became convenientto separate the benefits being examined into two large categories:benefits to the children and parents participating in theprograms, and benefits by way of eventual savings to the government(and therefore society in general) from reduced levels of social serviceexpenditures on participants following the end of theprograms. For ease of reference, the first class is typically calledbenefits in this report and the second class, savings. Savings arecompared with program costs.This study was one of Peter Rydell's last projects at RAND. Peter,who was largely responsible for Chapter Three, died in October 1997. Peter's clear, rigorous approach to the analysis of societal costs,benefits, and savings was a hallmark of RAND research in multiple areas of public policy concern over a period of almost 30 years. His insight, optimism, and generosity have been an inspiration to us all.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Rand Publishing; 1 edition (April 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0833025309
• ISBN-13: 978-0833025302
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,616,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)