Contingent Valuation of Early Intervention Programs for Handicapped Children

Contingent Valuation of Early Intervention Programs for Handicapped Children Colette M. Escobar, Master of Science Utah State University, 1986 Major Professor: Dr. John E. Keith Department: Economics vi Early intervention programs for handicapped preschool ch ildren may have l ong-term impli cations for the chi ldren and their families. Economic eva luations of these programs have been conducted t o measure costs and bene fit s, but parental wi l lingness-to-pay has been overlooked in these analyses. Parenta l willingness-to-pay, as a measure of consumer surplus , could complete the measure of benefits and provide both policymakers and practitioners with useful information for decisionmaking. In this study, the impli cations of eliciting willingness-to-pay responses for an early intervention program for handicapped preschoolers are discussed. A survey technique, known as the contingent valua tion method (CVM) , is applied to program to empirically estimate wil lingness-to-pay for the total program and for particular components of the program. Also investigated are the implications of using rationality test in the survey to determine if consumer responses are in