Evaluation of Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Return on Investment (Vr-Roi) Models and Results

This open book presents the latest advances in models and data for evaluating the efficacy of vocational rehabilitation (VR) services provided to individuals with disabilities. For the first time, the VR-ROI (return on investment) model is used to simultaneously compare short- and long-term labor market outcomes across multiple state agencies and four distinct disability groups. For each disability group, the book provides information about the return on investment, as measured by the rate of return, for VR services. By offering this broad and in-depth evaluation in concert with intuitive explanations of the model and the estimation methodology, the book helps to bridge the gap between research and practice and to equip stakeholders with data-driven insights to enhance vocational rehabilitation programs for individuals with disabilities.

This is an open access book.

Christopher M. Clapp is an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He has conducted research evaluating energy conservation technologies, transportation policies, and man-made natural disasters (oil spills), as well as a line of research estimating the return on investment (ROI) of federally-mandated, state-run vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs. At Harris, Dr. Clapp teaches econometrics and data science classes in both the traditional MPP and Evening Master’s programs.

John Pepper is the Merrill S. Bankard Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. He is the author of numerous published papers, conference presentations and edited books including several National Research Council reports. His work examines identification problems that arise when evaluating a wide range of public policy questions including such subjects as health and disability programs, welfare policies (e.g., SNAP), and drug and crime policies. Dr. Pepper has served as the study director of the National Research Council Committee for Improving Research Information and Data on Firearms, and as member of Committee on Improving Evaluation of Anti-Crime Programs.

Robert Schmidt is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Richmond, Virginia, USA. He received a Ph.D. from Duke University. He has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed articles and many conference presentations. Dr. Schmidt’s areas of interest include the efficacy of vocational rehabilitation, relationships between economic and demographic change, the economics of education, and other policy issues. Most recently, he has focused exclusively on the economics of disability where he has worked for over thirty years. He is also research coordinator for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) grant.

Steven Stern is a Full Professor of Economics at Stony Brook University, New York, USA. He received a Ph.D. from Yale University and has published in excess of 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Stern has done extensive work on vocational rehabilitation, mental illness, long-term care, marriage and divorce, structural modelling, simulation, and the used car market. Also, he has advised 64 dissertations at the University of Virginia and at Stony Brook University.