Three Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs

Jorge Luis Garcia () and James Heckman

No 30507, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines the economic foundations of three criteria used for evaluating the costs and benefits of social programs. Some criteria do not consider the scale of programs or address the costs associated with programs that expand or contract the total government budget. A recent addition to the list of evaluation criteria--the marginal value of public funds (MVPF)--does not adopt a social optimality perspective. It evaluates the optimality of expenditures assuming a predetermined aggregate budget without considering the social costs of raising that budget.

JEL-codes: D61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
Note: LS TWP
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Jorge Luis García & James Joseph Heckman, 2022. "Three Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, vol 13(3), pages 281-286.

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