I am a child, I’ll last a while. You can’t conceive of the pleasure in my smile. You hold my hand, rough up my hair, it’s lots of fun to have you there.
Neil Young
I am a Child
Any country or society that sees children as a liability is a very sick country or society! We should embrace these children, educate and get the large return on investment (ROI).
Before U start responding, telling me about the millions of dollars it costs our welfare system continue to see the results of the following question entered to Gemini:
Question? With ROI as the standard of measurement, what is the best capital investment a country can make?
1. The Winner: Early Childhood Education (The “Human Capital” Play)
Investments in high-quality programs for children from birth to age five yield an annual ROI of 7% to 13%, with some specific programs showing a return of up to $16 for every $1 spent.
- Why the ROI is so high: It’s a “preventative” investment. It increases future tax revenue (through higher adult earnings) while simultaneously slashing future government costs in special education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system.
- The Compound Interest Effect: Unlike a bridge that depreciates the day it’s finished, human capital appreciates. Skills learned at age 4 make learning at age 14 more efficient, creating a lifelong multiplier effect.
2. The Runner-Up: Public Research & Development (The “Innovation” Play)
Publicly funded R&D (like the projects that created the Internet, GPS, or mRNA technology) has a staggering social ROI, often estimated between 30% and 100%.
The Catch: This is a “high-variance” investment. While the average return is massive, many individual projects fail. However, the “home runs” (like the Human Genome Project) effectively pay for decades of entire national budgets.
Tom Flash