Browsing by Author "Varshney, Nishank"
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Item Pay for Success: A Roadmap for Implementation in Minnesota(2018-05-09) Kadam, Aditi; Swanson, Jared; Kretschmann, Kyle; Lee, Min; Varshney, NishankPay for Success (PFS) is a promising financing model that encourages investment in programs that produce improved social outcomes resulting in future cost-savings for the government. In a PFS project, investors provide initial capital to scale-up effective social programs and the government pays back the investors only if the desired outcomes are achieved. Minnesota emerged as a pioneer in this field, being the first U.S. state to enact legislation authorizing a Pay for Performance pilot in 2011, even before the first PFS program was launched in New York. However, despite having the legislation in effect for more than 6 years now, no PFS project has been implemented in Minnesota. Meanwhile, over 20 PFS programs have been launched in other states such as Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and South Carolina among others, some of which have also seen their first success payments made out to the investors.Item Pay for Success: A Roadmap for Implementation in Minnesota(2018) Kadam, Aditi; Swanson, Jared; Kretschmann, Kyle; Lee, Min; Varshney, NishankPay for Success (PFS) is a promising financing model that encourages investment in programs that produce improved social outcomes resulting in future cost-savings for the government. In a PFS project, investors provide initial capital to scale-up effective social programs and the government pays back the investors only if the desired outcomes are achieved. Minnesota emerged as a pioneer in this field, being the first U.S. state to enact legislation authorizing a Pay for Performance pilot in 2011, even before the first PFS program was launched in New York. However, despite having the legislation in effect for more than 6 years now, no PFS project has been implemented in Minnesota. Meanwhile, over 20 PFS programs have been launched in other states such as Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and South Carolina among others, some of which have also seen their first success payments made out to the investors. This report describes the PFS financing mechanism and provides a set of recommendations for the state government and other stakeholders to advance the implementation of PFS projects in Minnesota recognizing the roadblocks that stalled implementation of the state Pay for Performance Act. We present a set of steps through which PFS funding can be approached in Minnesota and provide a list of program areas where PFS projects can be launched. The report also highlights the legislative action that could move PFS projects ahead in the state of Minnesota and discusses some ways to move forward in the absence of legislative involvement.Item Three Essays on Using Economic Evaluations for Scaling Up Early Childhood Education and Development Programs(2023-05) Varshney, NishankDespite growing evidence about the significance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs, public investment has been relatively low, resulting in slower expansion of evidence-based ECD programs. This dissertation consists of three essays on conducting and using economic evaluation methods to scale up early childhood education and development programs. Specifically, I conduct a benefit-cost analysis of the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) preschool program, with a focus on health outcomes in mid-adulthood. Further, I analyze the costs of implementing the expansion of the CPC program to four districts in the Midwestern US. I discuss the costs required to scale up an evidence-based high-quality preschool program with a focus on estimating the marginal costs of each of the program’s six quality elements. Finally, I review the existing economic evaluations of Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visiting programs and suggest two innovative financial mechanisms – Pay for Success (PFS) and Data-Driven Philanthropy that can be used to expand access to home-visiting programs by leveraging public-private partnerships.