"The Power of Measuring Social Benefits"

Social spending has always been a controversial topic. There have been countless debates at the federal and state level on the allocation of funding to social programs. Recent controversy over the tax-exempt status of nonprofits and the backlash on state funding here in NY are just two more examples of the troubled politics of social spending. We vote for government officials based on their stance on social programs; it's clearly a pervasive issue. That's where "The Power of Measuring Social Benefits" comes in.

The MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Illinois has launched a $35 million dollar grant project which will fund research initiatives that are engaging in social cost-benefit analyses of domestic social policy. During the first 18 months of the project, the Foundation has already awarded $12 million to these analyses. The Foundation's hope is that policymakers and politicians will base their creation and support of social programs on the evidence that sound research has produced rather than on personal and party politics. Good social policy benefits not just the recipients of assistance, but society as a whole as well.

The Perry Preschool study inspired this focus on cost-benefit analysis. The Perry study, which began in 1962, was an analysis of the costs and benefits of early childhood education which showed that for each dollar invested by the government into a "carefully designed preschool experience" $16 was paid back through taxes and an individual's contributions to society. The MacArthur Foundation's goal is to saturate the policy arena with cost-benefit analyses in order to create the best social policy possible.