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Cost of Everything, Value of Nothing

Presentation to Early Education Federation.

Girl holding a piggy bank

> download The Cost of Everything and The Value of Nothing (PDF, 876KB)

Summary

Oscar Wilde in his play Lady Windermere’s Fan described a cynic as someone who ‘knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’. This presentation is based on this idea because there is a danger if we try too hard to determine the economics of early childhood education (ECE) that we might end up knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

This is not to say that economic analysis cannot provide us with some insights into the size of the benefits of public spending on early childhood education because I believe that it can. There is however a trap in becoming too engrossed with the possible insights which economics can provide those of us who are interested in promoting more spending on public services such as early childhood education. This trap is at least twofold.