A Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Tulsa Universal Pre-K Program

Timothy Bartik (), JOnathan A. Belford, William T. Gormley and Sara Anderson
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JOnathan A. Belford: Child Trends
William T. Gormley: Georgetown University
Sara Anderson: West Virginia University

No 16-261, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: In this paper, benefits and costs are estimated for a universal pre-K program, provided by Tulsa Public Schools. Benefits are derived from estimated effects of Tulsa pre-K on retention by grade 9. Retention effects are projected to dollar benefits from future earnings increases and crime reductions. Based on these estimates, Tulsa pre-K has benefits that exceed costs by about 2-to-1. This benefit cost ratio is far less than the much higher benefit-cost ratios (ranging from 8-to-1 to 16-to-1) for more targeted and intensive pre-K programs, such as Perry Preschool and the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) program. Comparing benefit-cost results from different studies suggests that our more modest estimates are due to two factors: 1) smaller percentage effects of pre-K on future earnings and crime in Tulsa than in Perry and CPC, and 2) smaller baseline crime rates in Tulsa than in the Perry and CPC comparison groups.

Keywords: Universal pre-K; benefit-cost analysis; grade retention; crime reduction effects of education; increased earnings effects of education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I22 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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