What data do we need for an economic evaluation of a social investment? Plan ahead to avoid disappointment!

A timely and helpful new guide by Aaron Schiff, PhD

Policymakers are increasingly cognisant of the need to reconcile resource use with evidence of societal impacts, as seen in social investment (NZ), evidence-based policymaking (Australia) and a proposed Office for Value for Money (UK).

Accordingly, social cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has an important role in the mix of evaluation methods. CBA is a method…