Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

• November 2007 - Achieving a High Return on Early Childhood Investment: Evidence, Proposal, and the Minnesota Pilot - For well over 20 years, government leaders at the state and local levels have invested in economic development schemes with public dollars that are at best a zero-sum game. In the name of economic development and creating new jobs, virtually every state in the union has tried to lure companies with public subsidies. Studies have shown that the case for these so-called bidding wars is shortsighted and fundamentally flawed. From a national perspective, jobs are not created—they are only relocated. The public return is at most zero. We don’t pretend to have all the answers to economic development, but we’re quite certain that investing in early childhood education is more likely to create a vibrant economy than using public funds to lure a sports team by building a new stadium or attracting an automaker by providing tax breaks, Arthur J. Rolnick & Rob Grunewald, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  
  

• December 2003 - Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return, Federal Reserve Bank Minneapolis.

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December 2008 - The cost burden to Minnesota K-12 when children are not fully prepared for kindergarten - Most of the studies of the return on investment in early childhood education have focused on the big payoffs in reduced public and societal costs associated with child welfare, public assistance, crime and incarceration, and benefits related to increased education and earnings. Several studies focus specifically on costs and benefits within the K-12 system, primarily measuring the effects of early childhood interventions on special education spending. This cost-benefit study focuses on the financial costs within the Minnesota K-12 system as a whole due to children entering kindergarten unprepared for school success. The study scope does not include costs or benefits for the child, family, or society, Wilder Research for the Bush Foundation (Summary).

August 2006 - Early Care and Education in Minnesota: A Wise Investment - A Guide for Policy Makers, Ready 4 K.

October 2005 - Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI): Universal Preschool Education in California, An Investment Letter for Minnesota Philanthropists, Urban Adventure Twin Cities.

Fall 2005 - Many Happy Returns - Early Childhood Programs Entail Costs, but the Paybacks Could Be Substantial, Rand Review.

July 2005 - Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI): High/Scope Perry Pre School Study, An Investment Letter for Minnesota Philanthropists, Urban Adventure Twin Cities.

October 2004 - The New Economics of Preschool, Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative.

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Linking Economic Development and Child Care, Cornell University.