Are Current U.S. Anti-Bullying Programs Net Beneficial to Parents? Inferences from School Switching

Abstract

This paper applies a discrete choice version of the household production framework to assess parents’ ex ante willingness to pay to reduce their child’s victimization from bullying at school. Willingness to pay is estimated using a bivariate probit model and a unique panel of 595 families from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development for 2000 to 2003. Empirical results find a statistically significant positive association between an elementary school child’s bully victimization and parents’ choice to change their child’s school in the subsequent sample period. Parents’ annual willingness to pay for reduced child bully victimization averages $130 and ranges from $54 for parents whose child was not bullied to $633 for parents whose child was bullied. Given current literature estimates of U.S. bullying prevalence and the cost and effectiveness of currently available anti-bullying programs, parental willingness to pay estimates suggest that U.S. households’ net annual return on investments in elementary school bullying prevention programs could be substantial.