Economic Evaluation of Supported-Employment Inspired Program for Pupils With Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

In this study, we investigate whether, or to what degree, a ‘business case’ could be made for implementation of a Supported-Employment (SE) inspired program for pupils with intellectual disabilities (IDs), starting during the final school years. For this aim, we do a quasi-experimental before-after intervention impact evaluation of such a project funded by the European Social Fund in the Swedish city of Örebro (135,000 inhabitants) during 2010–2013. From an estimate of the average treatment effect, we calculate the internal net present value and the payback period that would make this program break even from avoided expenditure for day-activity services, assuming that it had been funded entirely by the municipality.