A Unified Welfare Analysis of Government Policies

Which policies improve social well-being the most?

A Unified Welfare Analysis of Government Policies

Should we spend more (or less) on health insurance? What about raising top marginal income tax rates, or targeting investment towards children?

This project seeks to answer these questions using a unified welfare analysis of historical policy changes in the U.S. over the past half century.

Category ()
Age
MVPF
[N/A, N/A]
Cost
[N/A, N/A]
WTP
[N/A, N/A]
MVPF
[N/A, N/A]
Cost
[N/A, N/A]
WTP
[N/A, N/A]
Source: Hendren and Sprung-Keyser (2019)

Methodology

Example from Florida International University using Estimates from Zimmerman (2014)

Close

The MVPF is calculated as the ratio of the benefits of the policy on its recipients (measured by their willingness to pay for the policy) divided by the net cost to the government of the policy. Here, we illustrate the MVPF construction for the admissions expansions at Florida International University (FIU), as studied by Zimmerman (2014).