M. Rebecca Kilburn
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Education
Overview
Biography
M. Rebecca Kilburn is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation; director of RAND Child Policy; and director of the Promising Practices Network on Children, Families and Communities (www.promisingpractices.net), a website project that identifies, screens, and presents information about effective interventions for children and families. She is also a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Kilburn's research focuses on the effects of public and private investments in children. Kilburn coauthored Investing in Our Children, RAND's pathbreaking 1998 report that contained some of the original cost-benefit analysis of early childhood interventions. Subsequent publications synthesized evaluations of early childhood interventions, including home visiting programs, to generate estimates of pooled effect sizes, identify features of effective programs, and estimate costs and government savings produced by these interventions. A recent project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tested economic hypotheses regarding whether parents invest more in children with relatively higher endowments or lower endowments and the relative effect of early parental investments in children on children's later achievement scores and other outcomes. Kilburn is currently conducting a study of home visiting in New Mexico on features that promote successful start-up of home visiting sites across the state and a randomized trial impact evaluation of a home visiting program in Santa Fe County. Another ongoing NIH-funded study examines the relationship between state laws requiring booster seat use for children over age 4 and rates of auto injuries and fatalities for children. Kilburn received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
Research Focus
Recent Projects
- Effects of Booster Seat Laws on Childhood Fatalities and Injuries
- New Mexico Home Visiting Randomized Trial Evaluation
- Analysis of Disparities in Outcomes for Young Men
Selected Publications
Datar, Ashlesha, M. Rebecca Kilburn, and David Loughran, "Endowments and Parental Investments in Infancy and Early Childhood," Demography, 2010
Davis, Lois M., M. Rebecca Kilburn, and Dana Schultz, Reparable Harm: Assessing and Addressing Disparities Faced by Boys and Men of Color in California, RAND Corporation (MG-745-TCE), 2009
Kilburn, M. Rebecca, Lynn A. Karoly, The Economics of Early Childhood Policy: What the Dismal Science Has to Say About Investing in Children, RAND Corporation (OP-227-CFP), 2008
Honors & Awards
- Promising Practices Network named Finalist, Harvard's innovation in American Government Awards
Economics
Biography
M. Rebecca Kilburn is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation; director of RAND Child Policy; and director of the Promising Practices Network on Children, Families and Communities (www.promisingpractices.net), a website project that identifies, screens, and presents information about effective interventions for children and families. Her research focuses on the effects of public and private investments in children. Kilburn coauthored Investing in Our Children, RAND's pathbreaking 1998 report that contained some of the original cost-benefit analysis of early childhood interventions. Subsequent publications synthesized evaluations of early childhood interventions, including home visiting programs, to generate estimates of pooled effect sizes, identify features of effective programs, and estimate costs and government savings produced by these interventions. A recent project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tested economic hypotheses regarding whether parents invest more in children with relatively higher endowments or lower endowments and the relative effect of early parental investments in children on children's later achievement scores and other outcomes. Kilburn is currently conducting a study of home visiting in New Mexico on features that promote successful start-up of home visiting sites across the state and a randomized trial impact evaluation of a home visiting program in Santa Fe County. Another ongoing NIH-funded study examines the relationship between state laws requiring booster seat use for children over age 4 and rates of auto injuries and fatalities for children. Kilburn received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
Recent Projects
- Effects of Booster Seat Laws on Childhood Fatalities and Injuries
- Analysis of Disparities in Outcomes for Young Men
- New Mexico Home Visiting Randomized Trial Evaluation
Selected Publications
Datar, Ashlesha, M. Rebecca. Kilburn, and David Loughran, "Endowments and Parental Investments in Infancy and Early Childhood," Demography, 2010
Davis, Lois M., M. Rebecca Kilburn, and Dana Schultz, Reparable Harm: Assessing and Addressing Disparities Faced by Boys and Men of Color in California, RAND Corporation (MG-745-TCE), 2009
Kilburn, M. Rebecca, Lynn A. Karoly, The Economics of Early Childhood Policy: What the Dismal Science Has to Say About Investing in Children, RAND Corporation (OP-227-CFP), 2008
Honors & Awards
- Promising Practices Network named Finalist, Harvard's Innovation in American Government Awards
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