Do Public Expenditures Improve Child Outcomes in the U.S.: A Comparison Across Fifty States

Publication Date:

Publisher: Center for Research on Child Wellbeing

Author(s): K. Harknett; I. Garfinkel; J. Bainbridge; T. Smeeding; N. Folbre; S. McLanahan

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

State and local government expenditures represent the largest public investment in our nation's children, suggesting such efforts vary across the 50 states. It is critical that policy-makers understand how this variance affects child outcomes, especially given the budgetary stress state and local authorities were experiencing at the time of this report. In this paper, the authors examine the short-term impact of public expenditure on children in several areas, including health, poverty, standardized test scores and adolescent behavior. They use uniquely comprehensive data about public expenditures on children collected from a variety of sources pertaining to programs from 1996. In terms of outcomes, they use state-level data from the Kids Count data and the National Center for Education Statistics. Approximately half of the indicators the authors analyzed - child health and mortality, test scores and certain adolescent outcomes - suggested a significant relationship between public investment and children's health, poverty, education and behavior. For instance, for each additional $1,000 per child spent on education, the authors observed a 3.4 to 4 percent reduction in low scores on math or reading tests. As this is a cross-sectional study and not a randomized or controlled trial, omitted variables may be confounding factors. The authors conclude that their results suggest that a true cost-benefit analysis of returns in investments would likely show returns to child investments accruing over the longer-term.