IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jrapmc/132425.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Variation in Child Care Prices: A Cross-State Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Davis, Elizabeth E.
  • Li, NaiChia

Abstract

A recent study reported that the average annual fees for full-time infant care in a child care center ranged from $3,803 in Alabama to $13,480 in Massachusetts. This study analyses this variation in state-level average child care center prices using a standard economic model of supply and demand. We found that a large proportion of the variation in average child care prices can be explained by a small set of variables, including median family income, wages paid to child care workers, and the number of young children in the state. Although the gov-ernment plays an important role in the child care market, the wide variation in average fees across states mostly reflects what parents can afford to pay. Given the importance of quality child care to current workforce needs and future human capital development, strategies to in-crease affordability such as child care subsidies and tax credits should be considered along with direct investments in quality improvements.

Suggested Citation

  • Davis, Elizabeth E. & Li, NaiChia, 2009. "Regional Variation in Child Care Prices: A Cross-State Analysis," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 39(1), pages 1-15.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jrapmc:132425
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.132425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/132425/files/09-1-5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.132425?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Blau & H. Naci Mocan, 2002. "The Supply Of Quality In Child Care Centers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 483-496, August.
    2. Lisa M. Powell, 1997. "The Impact of Child Care Cost on the Labour Supply of Married Mothers: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(3), pages 577-594, August.
    3. Chipty, Tasneem, 1995. "Economic Effects of Quality Regulations in the Day-Care Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 419-424, May.
    4. David M. Blau & Alison P. Hagy, 1998. "The Demand for Quality in Child Care," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 104-146, February.
    5. Edwards, John H. Y. & Fuller, Bruce & Liang, Xiaoyan, 1996. "The mixed preschool market: Explaining local variation in family demand and organized supply," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 149-161, April.
    6. Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 2003. "The Effect of Child Care Costs on the Employment and Welfare Recipiency of Single Mothers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(3), pages 498-519, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Rissing & Shoshanah Inwood & Emily Stengel, 2021. "The invisible labor and multidimensional impacts of negotiating childcare on farms," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 431-447, June.
    2. Eszter Baranyai, 2023. "The Socio-Economic Status of Neighbourhoods and Access to Early Childhood Education," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1019-1048, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blau, David & Currie, Janet, 2006. "Pre-School, Day Care, and After-School Care: Who's Minding the Kids?," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 20, pages 1163-1278, Elsevier.
    2. David Blau, 2003. "Child Care Subsidy Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 443-516, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2011. "The Impact of Regulations on the Supply and Quality of Care in Child Care Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1775-1805, August.
    4. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2005. "The Impact of Minimum Quality Standards on Firm Entry, Exit and Product Quality: The Case of the Child Care Market," Working Papers 05-28, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. Yusuf Emre Akgunduz & Janneke Plantenga, 2018. "Child Care Prices And Maternal Employment: A Meta†Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 118-133, February.
    6. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2020. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Guyonne Kalb, 2009. "Children, Labour Supply and Child Care: Challenges for Empirical Analysis," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 276-299, September.
    8. Pierre Merrigan & Philip Lefebvre, 2002. "The Effect of Childcare and Early Education Arrangements on Developmental Outcomes of Young Children," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(2), pages 159-185, June.
    9. Y.E. Akgündüz & J. Plantenga, 2015. "Childcare Prices and Maternal Employment: a Meta-Analysis," Working Papers 15-14, Utrecht School of Economics.
    10. Xiao, Mo, 2010. "Is quality accreditation effective? Evidence from the childcare market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 708-721, November.
    11. Chris Herbst & Burt Barnow, 2008. "Close to Home: A Simultaneous Equations Model of the Relationship Between Child Care Accessibility and Female Labor Force Participation," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 128-151, March.
    12. Colm Harmon & Claire Finn & Arnaud Chevalier & Tarja Viitanen, 2006. "The economics of early childhood care and education : technical research paper for the National Economic and Social Forum," Open Access publications 10197/671, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    13. Edwin van Gameren, 2013. "The Role of Economic Incentives and Attitudes in Participation and Childcare Decisions," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 296-313, September.
    14. Robert Breunig & Xiaodong Gong & Anthony King, 2012. "Partnered Women's Labour Supply and Child‐Care Costs in Australia: Measurement Error and the Child‐Care Price," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(s1), pages 51-69, June.
    15. Denise Doiron & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Demands for Child Care and Household Labour Supply in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(254), pages 215-236, September.
    16. Mocan, H. Naci & Tekin, Erdal & Zax, Jeffrey S., 2004. "The Demand for Medical Care in Urban China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 289-304, February.
    17. Delia Furtado, 2016. "Fertility Responses of High-Skilled Native Women to Immigrant Inflows," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 27-53, February.
    18. Ali, Umair & Herbst, Chris M. & Makridis, Christos A., 2021. "Minimum Quality Regulations and the Demand for Child Care Labor," IZA Discussion Papers 14684, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Xiaodong Gong & Robert Breunig, 2010. "Child care availability, quality and affordability: are local problems related to maternal labour supply ?," Treasury Working Papers 2010-02, The Treasury, Australian Government, revised Apr 2010.
    20. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina & Sengül, Denise, 2016. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145654, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:jrapmc:132425. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mcrsaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.