Description
Book SynopsisThe past decade has seen increased attention to cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis in education as administrators are being asked to accomplish more with the same or even fewer resources, philanthropists are keen to calculate their return on investment in social programs, and the general public is increasingly scrutinizing how resources are allocated to schools and colleges. Economic Evaluation in Education: Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis (titled Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Methods and Applications in its previous editions) is the only full-length book to provide readers with the step-by-step methods they need to plan and implement a benefit-cost analysis in education. Authors Henry M. Levin, Patrick J. McEwan, Clive Belfield, Alyshia Brooks Bowden, and Robert Shand examine a range of issues, including how to identify, measure, and distribute costs; how to
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"In order to improve our educational systems, we need to increase our understanding of economic evaluation. This text provides the tools for both practitioners and researchers to achieve this end. This is unequivocally the best text in the field."
-- Dan Jorgensen
"This is a practical and clear text that practitioners can use. The authors make a strong case for the importance of economic evaluations and then provide coherent, sequential, and precise steps for conducting economic evaluations. This is a must-use for any policy methods class."
-- Charol Shakeshaft
"Clear and effective representation of a valuable approach to cost analysis offered by authorities in the field."
-- Charles David Crumpton
This text offers evaluators a rare opportunity to enhance the effectiveness and utility of their work: Policymakers need information on programs’ effects and their costs if they are to make informed decisions. This text clearly teaches both the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of economic evaluation. -- Gary Skolits
"Sound policymaking requires not just a knowledge of "what works", but also an understanding of whether the benefits exceed the costs. This volume presents, in a clear and accessible manner, all of the tools essential to making this determination. It’s an excellent resource for policy students and policymakers alike." -- David Figlio
Policymakers around the world face the challenge of how to use scarce resources to most effectively improve education. Researchers are supporting their efforts by providing increasingly good evidence on the impacts of a wide range of policy initiatives such as reducing class size, introducing new instructional technologies, and basing teacher compensation on student performance. But since these initiatives have different costs, policymakers find it difficult to use the research evidence. The third edition of Economic Evaluation in Education by Henry Levin and his colleagues provides a valuable resource to researchers who want to make evidence from impact evaluations useful to policymakers. Topics include methods for estimating the costs stemming from initiatives and strategies to compare the cost effectiveness of initiatives with similar objectives. Material new to this third edition includes an expanded description of how to estimate the dollar value of diverse outcomes of education and treatment of different kinds of uncertainty. One strength of the book is the lucid application of up-to-date economics methods to concrete challenges in estimating costs and evaluating benefits. A second is the variety of examples used to illustrate application of methods. A third is the set of discussion questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. These strengths make the book a wise choice as a text in Master’s level courses on making research useful to policymakers.
-- Richard J. Murnane
Table of Contents
List of Tables, Figures, and Examples Preface Acknowledgments to the Second Edition Acknowledgments to the Third Edition About the Authors Chapter 1. Introduction to Economic Evaluation 1.1. Purpose and Goals of the Book 1.2. The Importance of Economic Evaluations 1.3. Economic Evaluation for Decisionmaking in Education 1.4. Summary of Approaches to Economic Evaluation 1.5. Economic Evaluations and Policymaking 1.6. Outline of the Book Discussion Questions Chapter 2. Establishing an Analytic Framework 2.1. Identifying the Problem 2.2. Taking Account of the Audience and Perspective 2.3. Relating Economic Evaluation to the Theory of Change 2.4. Determining If Economic Evaluation Is Necessary 2.5. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 3. Cost Concepts 3.1. The Concept of Costs 3.2. Cost per Unit 3.3. Costs and the Theory of Change 3.4. Costs Data and Budgetary Information 3.5. Motivation for Cost Analysis 3.6. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 4. The Ingredients Method 4.1. Identifying Ingredients 4.2. Specifying Ingredients 4.3. Sources of Ingredients Information 4.4. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 5. Placing Values on Ingredients 5.1. Methods for Valuing Ingredients 5.2. Placing Dollar Values on Ingredients 5.3. Costs Over Multiple Years 5.4. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 6. Analyzing and Reporting Costs 6.1. Tabulating Total Cost Using a Cost Worksheet 6.2. Reporting Costs 6.3. Allocating Costs Among Constituencies 6.4. Analyzing Cost Determinants and Generalizing Costs 6.5. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 7. Effectiveness 7.1. Specifying Effectiveness 7.2. Methods for Identifying Effectiveness 7.3. Utility Analysis 7.4. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 8. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis 8.1. Cost-Effectiveness Ratios 8.2. Alternative Cost-Effectiveness Metrics 8.3. Interpreting Cost-Effectiveness Ratios 8.4. Explaining Cost-Effectiveness Ratios 8.5. Evidence on Cost-Effective Interventions 8.6. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 9. Estimating Benefits 9.1. The Concept of Benefits 9.2. Specifying Benefits 9.3. Valuing Educational Benefits Through Earnings 9.4. Valuing Educational Benefits Through Shadow Pricing 9.5. Applying Benefits in Benefit-Cost Analysis 9.6. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 10. Benefit-Cost Analysis 10.1. Combining Benefits and Costs Into Economic Metrics 10.2. Performing Benefit-Cost Analysis 10.3. Examples of Benefit-Cost Analysis 10.4. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 11. Accounting for Uncertainty 11.1. Type of Uncertainty and Sensitivity 11.2. General Sensitivity Testing 11.3. Sensitivity Testing of Cost Estimates 11.4. Sensitivity Testing of Cost-Effectiveness 11.5. Sensitivity Testing of Benefit-Cost Analysis 11.6. Distributional Issues 11.7. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 12. Checklist for Economic Evaluations 12.1. A Checklist for Appraising Economic Evaluations 12.2. Appraising Economic Evaluations 12.3. Conclusions Discussion Questions Exercises Chapter 13. Economic Evaluations for Education Policy 13.1. Applying Economic Analysis 13.2. Expanding the Use of Economic Evaluation 13.3. Decisionmaking and Economic Evaluation 13.4. Prioritizing Educational Investments 13.5. Using Economic Evaluations to Improve Education Research 13.6. The Future of Economic Evaluation of Education 13.7. A Final Word Discussion Questions Appendix A. Answers to Even-Numbered Exercises Appendix B. CostOut Tool References Index
