In recent years, the U.S. federal government has invested approximately $463 billion annually in interventions that affect the overall health and well-being of children and youth, while state and local budgets have devoted almost double that amount. The potential returns on these investments may not only be substantial but also have long-lasting effects for individuals and succeeding generations of their families.

Ideally, those tasked with making these investments would have available to them the evidence needed to determine the cost of all required resources to fully implement and sustain each intervention, the expected returns of the investment, to what extent these returns can be measured in monetary or nonmonetary terms, and who will receive the returns and when. As a result of a number of challenges, however, such evidence may not be effectively produced or applied. Low-quality evidence and/or a failure to consider the context in which the evidence will be used may weaken society's ability to invest wisely, and also reduce future demand for this and other types of evidence.

Advancing the Power of Economic Evidence to Inform Investments in Children, Youth, and Families highlights the potential for economic evidence to inform investment decisions for interventions that support the overall health and well-being of children, youth, and families. This report describes challenges to the optimal use of economic evidence, and offers recommendations to stakeholders to promote a lasting improvement in its quality, utility, and use.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• COMMITTEE ON THE USE OF ECONOMIC EVIDENCE TO INFORM INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES
• BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Summary
  • IMPROVING THE USE OF ECONOMIC EVIDENCE IN DECISION MAKING
  • A ROADMAP FOR MOVING FORWARD
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
  • Checklist of Best Practices for Producing High-Quality Economic Evidence
  • Checklist of Best Practices for Reporting Economic Evidence
• 1. Introduction
  • STUDY CONTEXT
  • STUDY CHARGE
  • STUDY APPROACH
  • STUDY SCOPE AND KEY DEFINITIONS
  • REPORT AUDIENCES
  • GUIDING PRINCIPLES
  • REPORT ORGANIZATION
  • REFERENCES
• 2. Setting the Stage
  • METHODS FOR ECONOMIC EVALUATION
  • STAKEHOLDERS OF THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF ECONOMIC EVIDENCE
  • CURRENT USES OF ECONOMIC EVALUATION TO INFORM INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES
  • CHALLENGES IN THE USE OF ECONOMIC EVALUATION TO INFORM INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES
  • ECONOMIC EVIDENCE AS PART OF THE EVIDENCE ECOSYSTEM
  • REFERENCES
• 3. Producing High-Quality Economic Evidence to Inform Investments in Children, Youth, and Families
  • DETERMINING WHETHER AN INTERVENTION IS READY FOR ECONOMIC EVALUATION
  • DEFINING THE SCOPE OF THE ECONOMIC EVALUATION
  • EVALUATING INTERVENTION COST
  • DETERMINING INTERVENTION IMPACTS
  • VALUING OUTCOMES
  • GETTING TO RESULTS: THE DEVELOPMENT AND REPORTING OF SUMMARY MEASURES
  • HANDLING UNCERTAINTY IN ECONOMIC EVALUATION
  • ADDRESSING EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS
  • RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST PRACTICES FOR PRODUCING AND REPORTING HIGH-QUALITY ECONOMIC EVIDENCE
  • Checklist of Best Practices for Producing High-Quality Economic Evidence
  • Recommended Best Practices for Reporting Economic Evidence
  • Checklist of Best Practices for Reporting Economic Evidence
  • REFERENCES
• 4. Context Matters
  • ALIGNMENT OF EVIDENCE WITH THE DECISION CONTEXT
  • OTHER FACTORS IN THE USE OF EVIDENCE
  • FACTORS THAT CAN FACILITATE THE USE OF ECONOMIC EVIDENCE
  • EXAMPLES OF EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE USE OF EVALUATION EVIDENCE
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
  • REFERENCES
• 5. A Roadmap for Improving the Use of High-Quality Economic Evidence
  • OVERVIEW OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS
  • A ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
  • REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A. Public Session Agendas
  • Appendix B. Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff
• Glossary

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Advancing the Power of Economic Evidence to Inform Investments in Children, Youth, and Families. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23481.