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Economic Evaluation in Education
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Economic Evaluation in Education
Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis

Third Edition
June 2017 | 376 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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The past decade has seen increased attention to cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis in education as administrators are being asked to accomplish more with the same or even fewer resources, philanthropists are keen to calculate their “return on investment” in social programs, and the general public is increasingly scrutinizing how resources are allocated to schools and colleges.

 

This text (titled Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in its previous editions) is the only full-length book to provide readers with the step-by-step methods they need to plan and implement a benefit-cost analysis in education. The authors examine a range of issues, including how to identify, measure, and distribute costs; how to measure effectiveness, utility, and benefits; and how to incorporate cost evaluations into the decision-making process. The updates to the Third Edition reflect the considerable methodological development in the evaluation literature, and the greater empiricism practiced by education researchers, to help readers learn to apply more advanced methods to their own analyses.


SAGE congratulates author Henry M. Levin, winner of the 2017 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award.


 
List of Tables, Figures, and Examples
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments to the Second Edition
 
Acknowledgments to the Third Edition
 
About the Authors
 
Chapter 1. Introduction to Economic Evaluation
1.1. Purpose and Goals of the Book

 
1.2. The Importance of Economic Evaluations

 
1.3. Economic Evaluation for Decisionmaking in Education

 
1.4. Summary of Approaches to Economic Evaluation

 
1.5. Economic Evaluations and Policymaking

 
1.6. Outline of the Book

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 2. Establishing an Analytic Framework
2.1. Identifying the Problem

 
2.2. Taking Account of the Audience and Perspective

 
2.3. Relating Economic Evaluation to the Theory of Change

 
2.4. Determining If Economic Evaluation Is Necessary

 
2.5. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 3. Cost Concepts
3.1. The Concept of Costs

 
3.2. Cost per Unit

 
3.3. Costs and the Theory of Change

 
3.4. Costs Data and Budgetary Information

 
3.5. Motivation for Cost Analysis

 
3.6. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 4. The Ingredients Method
4.1. Identifying Ingredients

 
4.2. Specifying Ingredients

 
4.3. Sources of Ingredients Information

 
4.4. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 5. Placing Values on Ingredients
5.1. Methods for Valuing Ingredients

 
5.2. Placing Dollar Values on Ingredients

 
5.3. Costs Over Multiple Years

 
5.4. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 6. Analyzing and Reporting Costs
6.1. Tabulating Total Cost Using a Cost Worksheet

 
6.2. Reporting Costs

 
6.3. Allocating Costs Among Constituencies

 
6.4. Analyzing Cost Determinants and Generalizing Costs

 
6.5. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 7. Effectiveness
7.1. Specifying Effectiveness

 
7.2. Methods for Identifying Effectiveness

 
7.3. Utility Analysis

 
7.4. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 8. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
8.1. Cost-Effectiveness Ratios

 
8.2. Alternative Cost-Effectiveness Metrics

 
8.3. Interpreting Cost-Effectiveness Ratios

 
8.4. Explaining Cost-Effectiveness Ratios

 
8.5. Evidence on Cost-Effective Interventions

 
8.6. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 9. Estimating Benefits
9.1. The Concept of Benefits

 
9.2. Specifying Benefits

 
9.3. Valuing Educational Benefits Through Earnings

 
9.4. Valuing Educational Benefits Through Shadow Pricing

 
9.5. Applying Benefits in Benefit-Cost Analysis

 
9.6. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 10. Benefit-Cost Analysis
10.1. Combining Benefits and Costs Into Economic Metrics

 
10.2. Performing Benefit-Cost Analysis

 
10.3. Examples of Benefit-Cost Analysis

 
10.4. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 11. Accounting for Uncertainty
11.1. Type of Uncertainty and Sensitivity

 
11.2. General Sensitivity Testing

 
11.3. Sensitivity Testing of Cost Estimates

 
11.4. Sensitivity Testing of Cost-Effectiveness

 
11.5. Sensitivity Testing of Benefit-Cost Analysis

 
11.6. Distributional Issues

 
11.7. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 12. Checklist for Economic Evaluations
12.1. A Checklist for Appraising Economic Evaluations

 
12.2. Appraising Economic Evaluations

 
12.3. Conclusions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Exercises

 
 
Chapter 13. Economic Evaluations for Education Policy
13.1. Applying Economic Analysis

 
13.2. Expanding the Use of Economic Evaluation

 
13.3. Decisionmaking and Economic Evaluation

 
13.4. Prioritizing Educational Investments

 
13.5. Using Economic Evaluations to Improve Education Research

 
13.6. The Future of Economic Evaluation of Education

 
13.7. A Final Word

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Appendix A. Answers to Even-Numbered Exercises
 
Appendix B. CostOut Tool
 
References
 
Index

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 7

Chapter 10

For instructors

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