Unit's econometric model gets praise

The first products of the Social Research Unit's collaboration with Steve Aos at the Washington State Institute of Public Policy (WSIPP) will appear this week at the launch of the Allen Review on the 19th of January, 2011.

Graham Allen MP makes repeated reference to the econometric model being translated by the Unit for use in the UK in his review of early intervention published this week. The Greater London Authority have made significant use of the US model in its report "Early Interventions to Address Health Inequalities" in London, which went public on the same day.
 
The preparation of the model in the UK is being supported by Birmingham and Manchester City Councils, and by the Greater London Authority. It will result in software available to all local and health authorities that predicts the costs and benefits over a child’s lifetime of competing investments in services. The software will also reveal harmful and therefore expensive policies and programmes.
 
Interest in the work has risen significantly since the Government, partly prompted by the Allen Review, began to examine the potential for new financial tools to incentivise investments in evidence based policies and programmes.
 
Led by Gretchen Bjornstad and Triin Edovald at the Social Research Unit alongside Steve Aos and Stephanie Lee at the Washington Institute, the translation work is planned to be completed over a 12 to 18 month period. Broad estimates of costs and benefits are currently available and have informed major investment programmes such as Birmingham. In the late summer more precise models covering social care and youth justice will come on stream. The final product will be software freely available to all UK local authorities.
 
See Project Description for further information.