Dollars and Sense of Early Childhood Programs

When you need facts and figures about the economic benefits of early childhood programs, here is a web site you should visit http://www.heckmanequation.org/news.

Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman has proven that there are “great economic gains to be had by investing in early childhood development.” Prof. Heckman shows we can reduce deficits and produce substantial social payoffs by investing in early childhood programs.  “The policy pays for itself many times over.”

Some of Heckman’s Key Findings

• Early nurturing, learning experiences and physical health from ages zero to five greatly impact the success or failure of adults.  

• High-quality early interventions promote schooling, reduce crime, reduce teenage pregnancy, foster workforce productivity, and promote adult health.

• Early interventions can offset the adverse effects of environments that harm children.

• The longer we wait to intervene in the life of a child with developmental delays, the more costly it is to remediate the delay and the disadvantage persists.

• Money spent on early childhood education has four-times the benefits of money spent on programs of remediation later in life. 

Copies of speeches and articles explaining Prof. Heckman's economic findings are posted on the site. The site also has many related articles, videos, and reports by noted journalists.