中文摘要
我们使用Head Start影响研究（HSIS）的数据，评估美国最大的幼儿教育项目Head Start的成本效益。Head Start约三分之一的参与者来自与其竞争的学前教育项目，其中许多项目获得公共资金。我们表明，在关于学前教育服务市场结构和测验成绩提升的美元价值的广泛假设下，将此类项目替代的财政影响纳入考量，会将Head Start的收益成本比估计值推至远高于1。为分解该项目相对于家庭照护及与其竞争的学前教育项目对测验成绩的影响，我们利用作为排除变量的实验分组与家庭特征的交互项，对各照护环境中的测验成绩进行选择性偏误修正。我们发现，Head Start为原本不会参加学前教育的儿童，以及参与该项目可能性较低的儿童带来的测验成绩提升更大。
Abstract
Abstract We use data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Head Start, the largest early childhood education program in the United States. Head Start draws roughly a third of its participants from competing preschool programs, many of which receive public funds. We show that accounting for the fiscal impacts of such program substitution pushes estimates of Head Start’s benefit-cost ratio well above one under a wide range of assumptions on the structure of the market for preschool services and the dollar value of test score gains. To parse the program’s test score impacts relative to home care and competing preschools, we selection-correct test scores in each care environment using excluded interactions between experimental assignments and household characteristics. We find that Head Start generates larger test score gains for children who would not otherwise attend preschool and for children who are less likely to participate in the program.