IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9303.html

The Cost-Effectiveness of Developmental Screenings: Evidence from a Nationwide Programme

Author

Listed:
  • Halla, Martin

    (Vienna University of Economics and Business)

  • Pruckner, Gerald J.

    (University of Linz)

  • Schober, Thomas

    (Auckland University of Technology)

Abstract

Early intervention is considered the optimal response to developmental disorders in children. We evaluate a nationwide developmental screening programme for preschoolers in Austria and the resulting interventions. Identification of treatment effects is determined by a birthday cutoff-based discontinuity in the eligibility for a financial incentive to participate in the screening. Assigned preschoolers are about 14 percentage points more likely to participate in the programme. For participants with high socio-economic status (SES), we find little evidence for interventions and consistently no effect on healthcare costs in the long run. For participants with low SES preschoolers, we find evidence for substantial interventions, but only weak evidence for cost savings in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Halla, Martin & Pruckner, Gerald J. & Schober, Thomas, 2015. "The Cost-Effectiveness of Developmental Screenings: Evidence from a Nationwide Programme," IZA Discussion Papers 9303, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9303.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pedro Carneiro & Rita Ginja, 2014. "Long-Term Impacts of Compensatory Preschool on Health and Behavior: Evidence from Head Start," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 135-173, November.
    2. Kasey S. Buckles & Daniel M. Hungerman, 2013. "Season of Birth and Later Outcomes: Old Questions, New Answers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 711-724, July.
    3. Sarah A. Avellar & Lauren H. Supplee, 2013. "Effectiveness of Home Visiting in Improving Child Health and Reducing Child Maltreatment," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2d00cdb4b2eb4fee8087572fc, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Conti, Gabriella & Heckman, James J., 2012. "The Developmental Approach to Child and Adult Health," IZA Discussion Papers 7060, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    6. Cadman, D. & Chambers, L.W. & Walter, S.D. & Ferguson, R. & Johnston, N. & McNamee, J., 1987. "Evaluation of public health preschool child development screening. The process and outcomes of a community program," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 77(1), pages 45-51.
    7. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    8. Rauf Gönenç & Maria M. Hofmarcher & Andreas Wörgötter, 2011. "Reforming Austria's Highly Regarded but Costly Health System," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 895, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pruckner, Gerald J. & Halla, Martin & Schober, Thomas, 2015. "On the Effectiveness of Developmental Screenings: Evidence from a Nationwide Program in Austria," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113020, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Halla, Martin & Pruckner, Gerald J. & Schober, Thomas, 2016. "Cost savings of developmental screenings: Evidence from a nationwide program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 120-135.
    3. Greve, Jane & Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise & Tekin, Erdal, 2017. "Fetal malnutrition and academic success: Evidence from Muslim immigrants in Denmark," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 20-35.
    4. Persson, Petra & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2019. "When Dad Can Stay Home: Fathers' Workplace Flexibility and Maternal Health," IZA Discussion Papers 12386, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Persson, Petra & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2019. "When Dad Can Stay Home: Fathers’ Workplace Flexibility and Maternal Health," CEPR Discussion Papers 13780, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner & Youngmin Park, 2017. "Correlation, Consumption, Confusion, or Constraints: Why Do Poor Children Perform so Poorly?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 102-147, January.
    7. Chen, Yi & Zhao, Yi, 2022. "The timing of first marriage and subsequent life outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 713-731.
    8. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2016. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Program, and Social Security Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-43, May.
    9. Görlitz, Katja & Penny, Merlin & Tamm, Marcus, 2022. "The long-term effect of age at school entry on cognitive competencies in adulthood," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 91-104.
    10. Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2022. "The effect of preschool attendance on Children's health: Evidence from a lower middle‐income country," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1558-1589, August.
    11. Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2015. "School Entry Cutoff Date and the Timing of Births," NBER Working Papers 21402, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Chris Ryan & Anna Zhu, 2015. "Sibling Health, Schooling and Longer-Term Developmental Outcomes," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2015n21, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Ahammer, Alexander & Halla, Martin & Schneeweis, Nicole, 2020. "The effect of prenatal maternity leave on short and long-term child outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. de la Mata, D, 2011. "The Effect of Medicaid on Children's Health: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 11/16, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Guo, Junru & He, Jia & Liu, Sibo & Wang, Yonglin, 2025. "CEO relative age at school entry and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    16. Gordon B Dahl & Christina Felfe & Paul Frijters & Helmut Rainer, 2022. "Caught between Cultures: Unintended Consequences of Improving Opportunity for Immigrant Girls," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2491-2528.
    17. Jill Furzer & Elizabeth Dhuey & Audrey Laporte, 2022. "ADHD misdiagnosis: Causes and mitigators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1926-1953, September.
    18. Dolores De La Mata, 2012. "The Effect Of Medicaid Eligibility On Coverage, Utilization, And Children'S Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(9), pages 1061-1079, September.
    19. Guldi, Melanie & Hamersma, Sarah, 2023. "The effects of pregnancy-related Medicaid expansions on maternal, infant, and child health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Currie, Janet & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2013. "Weathering the storm: Hurricanes and birth outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 487-503.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9303. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.