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The Rate of Return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program

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Author Info
James J. Heckman
Seong Hyeok Moon
Rodrigo Pinto
Peter A. Savelyev
Adam Yavitz
Abstract

This paper estimates the rate of return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, an early intervention program targeted toward disadvantaged African-American youth. Estimates of the rate of return to the Perry program are widely cited to support the claim of substantial economic benefits from preschool education programs. Previous studies of the rate of return to this program ignore the compromises that occurred in the randomization protocol. They do not report standard errors. The rates of return estimated in this paper account for these factors. We conduct an extensive analysis of sensitivity to alternative plausible assumptions. Estimated social rates of return generally fall between 7-10 percent, with most estimates substantially lower than those previously reported in the literature. However, returns are generally statistically significantly different from zero for both males and females and are above the historical return on equity. Estimated benefit-to-cost ratios support this conclusion.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 15471.

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Date of creation: Nov 2009
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15471

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance
I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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  8. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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