When you’re a young woman at the beginning of your career, a lot is expected of you.
👩 You’re expected to be beautiful, or at least make an effort to be as attractive as possible.
When you’re beautiful, it’s expected that you shouldn’t be too smart. 🙈 🙉 🙊
❣ You’re supposed to be a perfect mother, or at least be a mother. Or at least make an effort to become one. 🤰
You’re expected to be patient and wait your turn, and to know your place. 🔕 🔇
You’re not expected to know what opportunity cost is.
Why am I thinking about this at all?
Actually, I’m contemplating the specific cost of missed opportunities – if society and the state don’t provide support for children in early childhood. In other words, if parents have to take complete responsibility for the well-being of children, regardless of their economic capabilities.
Recently, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with colleagues from Genesis Analytics, I participated in a project commissioned by #UNICEF about:
💡 What is the expected return on investment in children’s healthcare in the first years of life, and what loss can be expected in the case of missed opportunities.
💡 How much Bosnia and Herzegovina stands to lose (in millions expressed in money) if it doesn’t provide social care for young children, and what the expected return on investment is.
💡 How much society can potentially benefit (expressed in money) for every penny invested in preschool education, and how much can be lost in the case of missed opportunities.
It’s important, fascinating, and I intend to continue talking and writing about it. 💰 💰 💰
It’s not just about money. It’s not just about Bosnia and Herzegovina.
How to lose billions 💰 💰💰 in the years to come?
By missing opportunities. Economists call it opportunity cost, and I interpret it as a conscious refusal of responsibility. 🙈 🙉 🙊
It’s easiest to say #governmentdoitall and call on “decision-makers” to do something or to be frustrated because everyone else (but us) is dealing with their priorities.
I’m not different either. However, I do what is my #missionpossible, and that is to speak about it loudly and to be visible even when I don’t feel like it.
In short, TL/DR – every penny invested in the education, protection, health, and well-being of young children returns 3 to 7 times within 10 to 20 years. Years pass faster than we think.
In other words, those billions mentioned at the beginning of this text are lost without those investments. 💰 💰💰💰 💰💰💰 💰💰
How do I know this? I’ve been with people who have calculated this very precisely using data for Bosnia and Herzegovina (although similar calculations can be applied in other countries).
It’s much more precisely and thoroughly described and argued in the reports I’m linking here.
I wrote something about investments for the well-being of children in my doctoral thesis.
Not only that – I know, live, and work with many young parents who lack such investments to be more productive and useful at work and in the economy.
How do we stop the exodus of young people if we don’t provide them with conditions to raise their children happily and safely?
How do we talk about progress and development if we don’t invest where the best return on investment is expected?
What can be done about it? To start, accept the idea that this is our money, and we are all decision-makers.
When you become aware of that, it becomes much clearer what to do next.