Exceptional Returns from ECE

10/21/2004

"You start by saying no to requests. Then if you have to go to yes, OK. But if you start with yes, you can't go to no." Mildred Perlman in the New York Times

Exceptional Returns from ECE

A new report by Robert Lynch of the Economic Policy Institute, "Exceptional Returns: Economic, Fiscal, and Social Benefits of Investment in Early Childhood Development," concludes that a high-quality, nationwide commitment to early childhood development would cost a significant amount of money up front, but it would have a substantial payoff in the future:

"We estimate that providing poor three- and four-year-old children, 20% of all children in this age range, initially would cost about $19 billion a year. Such a program would ultimately reduce costs for remedial and special education, criminal justice, and welfare benefits, and it would increase income earned and taxes paid. Within about 17 years, the net effect on the budget would turn positive (for all levels of government combined).

"Within 30 years, the offsetting budget benefits would be more than double the costs of the ECD program (and the cost of the additional youth going to college). In addition, investing in our poor young children is likely to have an enormous positive effect on the U.S. economy by raising GDP, improving the skills of the workforce, reducing poverty, and strengthening the United States' global competitiveness. Crime rates and the heavy costs of criminality to society are likely to be substantially reduced, as well.

"If we invest in young children, we could also enhance the solvency of public retirement benefits systems such as Social Security. We should be investing in ECD programs to improve the quality of life of millions of our children, to reduce crime, to make the work force of the future more productive, and to strengthen the economy. Because the retirement of the baby boom generation will put great pressure on the budget in coming decades, we should also be investing in ECD programs to provide future budget relief."

To download a free copy of this report, go to:

http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0434

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