Informing Resource Allocation for Investment in Early Childhood: A Review of the International Peer-Reviewed Evidence

Abstract

Early childhood investment decisions represent critical policy frameworks that ideally reflect a strong evidence base. This review seeks to assess early childhood intervention priorities based on return on investment without limitation by health, education or social science sector. A systematic search of peer-reviewed literature identified 858 eligible papers relating to economic evaluations of intervention in early childhood (0–4 years). Data for this narrative review was provided by 34 papers. The capacity to rank interventions and to compare relevance across disciplines is limited by the degree of heterogeneity across studies and the potential to compare published studies based on journal indices.