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"People only see what they are prepared to see." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

ECE AS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Louise Zimanyi from the Consultative Group recently shared with us an article by Maja Beckstrom from the October 24th edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "Invest in Kids Taken Literally:  Economists Say Money Put Toward Early Childhood Programs Offers Great Returns and May Be the Best Form of Economic Development Out There."  This article begins . . .

"Art Rolnick wants to sell you an economic development plan. It's not a tax-free business zone. Not a stadium. Not a coal gasification plant on the Iron Range.  It's preschool. For all low-income kids in Minnesota.

"The idea itself isn't new, but fresh evidence and surprising new heavyweights back it up. Rolnick, after all, is head of research at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.

"Milton Friedman, meet Maria Montessori. Advocates of early-childhood education have a new ally — the economists.
"Proponents of better day care and public preschools rely on people's urge to do right by kids. The money guys see it as a matter of dollars and cents. Investing money in early childhood programs is perhaps the best form of economic development there is, they say — with annual returns that can exceed the stock market's — and can result in more savings to society than any other social program."

You can track down the complete text for this article (you'll need to pay $2.95) at http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business

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