This paper reviews the use of multiple trials in evaluating social programs. We define multiple trials to include both conducting evaluations in multiple sites concurrently and replications, where the intervention is replicated in one or more sites after the initial evaluation. After defining...

Whose costs and benefits should count in cost-benefit analysis (CBA)? This is an important practical question requiring answers for analysts because most government agencies offer only permissive or vague guidance. Drawing primarily on foundational CBA principles, we present a conceptual...

The findings from most benefit-cost analyses (BCA) are subject to considerable uncertainty. In BCAs of social programs, much of this uncertainty arises from sampling error to which the impact estimates used in determining benefits and costs are subject. Such uncertainty in BCAs of social...

This report presents findings from a cost-benefit analysis of the Tulsa Individual Development Account (IDA) program, a demonstration program that was initiated in the late 1990s and is being evaluated through random assignment. The key follow-up data used in the evaluation was collected around...

Although increases in earnings that result from Employment and Training (E&T) programs typically come at the cost of losses of leisure to participants, this is almost never taken into account in cost-benefit analyses of E&T programs. This paper develops a method for adjusting for this bias and...

Although increases in earnings that result from Employment and Training (E&T) programs typically come at the cost of losses of leisure to participants, this is almost never taken into account in cost-benefit analyses of E&T programs. This paper develops a method for adjusting for this bias and...

This article examines past evaluations of government training programs for the economically disadvantaged and offers an agenda for future research. It is found that government training programs are producing modest increases in earnings for adult men and women, but are probably not producing...