Making every public dollar count: Bringing the Marginal Value of Public Funds to Canada
When governments face budget pressure, programs get cut – even when they’re working. The problem is that Canada’s public finance framework measures the cost of spending far more rigorously than the value it creates.
Programs that prevent homelessness, stabilize incomes, or improve children’s long-term outcomes can look expensive in a single budget line – even when they save money across health, education, and justice systems over time. A one-sided ledger produces one-sided decisions.
There’s a better way to ask the question
The Marginal Value of Public Funds (MVPF) asks: For every dollar the government spends, how much value does it actually create – and for whom?
It works by comparing the social value a program delivers to its net cost to government – not just the upfront price tag, but the full fiscal picture, including long-term savings the program generates through higher earnings, better health, and reduced reliance on other services.
MVPF also makes distribution visible: A dollar that prevents deep poverty carries greater social weight than a dollar reaching a household under far less pressure. Those weights can be stated openly – and debated – rather than buried in framework defaults.
A tool for government. A tool for advocates.
MVPF isn’t only for government analysts. Non-profits, community organizations, and policy advocates can use the same framework to make the case for programs they see working every day – connecting community-level evidence to the fiscal questions governments actually use to assess spending.
Related
- Marginal Value of Public Funds: Research description
- IRPP: From Cost to Investment: Reframing Social Spending in an Affordability Era
- Maytree interview: Invest in people, strengthen finances: How a new measure can lead to better policy