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Three Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs

Author

Listed:
  • García, Jorge Luis

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Heckman, James J.

    (University of Chicago)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • García, Jorge Luis & Heckman, James J., 2022. "Three Criteria for Evaluating Social Programs," IZA Discussion Papers 15573, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15573
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jorge Luis Garcia & Frederik Bennhoff & Duncan Ermini Leaf & James J. Heckman, 2021. "The Dynastic Benefits of Early Childhood Education," Working Papers 2021-033, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. Martin S. Feldstein, 1964. "Net Social Benefit Calculation And The Public Investment Decision," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 114-131.
    3. Martin Feldstein, 1999. "Tax Avoidance And The Deadweight Loss Of The Income Tax," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 674-680, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Dalla-Zuanna, Antonio & Liu, Kai, 2025. "Using the MVPF to Allocate Treatment Under Imperfect Compliance and Supply-Side Constraints," IZA Discussion Papers 18259, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Jacob Arendt & Iben Bolvig, 2026. "Stepping stone or Exit Path: Experimental Evidence on Training the Long-Term Unemployed," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26131, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    3. Aidan R. Vining & Anthony E. Boardman, 2026. "Cost–benefit analysis and ‘next best’ methods to evaluate the efficiency of social policies: As in pitching horseshoes, closeness matters," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(1), pages 17-41, March.
    4. Benjamin Collier & Sabrina T. Howell & Lea Rendell, 2024. "After the Storm: How Emergency Liquidity Helps Small Businesses Following Natural Disasters," Working Papers 24-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. repec:hal:ipppap:halshs-05458929 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Britta Rude, 2024. "Middle-run educational impacts of comprehensive early childhood interventions: evidence from a pioneer program in Chile," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-30, June.
    7. Spencer Bastani, 2025. "The marginal value of public funds: a brief guide and application to tax policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 32(4), pages 919-956, August.
    8. Montpetit, Sébastien & Beaureard, Pierre-Loup & Carrer, Luisa, 2024. "A welfare analysis of universal childcare: Lessons from a Canadian reform," CLEF Working Paper Series 73, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    9. Nicholas Lacoste & Zehra Farooq, 2026. "Optimal Audit Targeting with Machine Learning: Evidence from Pakistan," Working Papers 2603, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    10. Arendt, Jacob & Bolvig, Iben, 2026. "Stepping Stone or Exit Path: Experimental Evidence on Training the Long-Term Unemployed," IZA Discussion Papers 18618, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Almlund, Mathilde & Andersen, Torben M., 2025. "Ranking public expenditure programs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    12. Bastani, Spencer, 2023. "The marginal cost of public funds: A brief guide," Working Paper Series 2023:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis

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