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Cognitive and non-cognitive costs of daycare 0–2 for children in advantaged families

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  • Fort, Margherita
  • Zanella, Giulio

Abstract

Exploiting admission thresholds to the Bologna daycare system, we show using RDD that one additional daycare month at age 0–2 reduces IQ by 0.5% (4.7% of a s.d.) at age 8–14 in a relatively affluent population. The magnitude of this negative effect increases with family income. Similar negative impacts are found for personality traits. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis from psychology that children in daycare experience fewer one-to-one interactions with adults, with negative effects in families where such interactions are of higher quality. We embed this hypothesis in a model that lends structure to our RDD.

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  • Fort, Margherita & Zanella, Giulio, 2019. "Cognitive and non-cognitive costs of daycare 0–2 for children in advantaged families," CEPR Discussion Papers 11120, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11120
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    Cited by:

    1. Katharina Werner, 2019. "The Role of Information for Public Preferences on Education – Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 82.
    2. Natalia Danzer & Martin Halla & Nicole Schneeweis & Martina Zweimüller, 2022. "Parental Leave, (In)formal Childcare, and Long-Term Child Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(6), pages 1826-1884.
    3. Gordon, James A. & Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2021. "Who's minding the kids? Experimental evidence on the demand for child care quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Kuehnle, Daniel & Oberfichtner, Michael, 2017. "Does early child care attendance influence children's cognitive and non-cognitive skill development?," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168241, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Yusuki Narita, 2016. "(Non)Randomization: A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2056, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    6. Atı̇la Abdulkadı̇roğlu & Joshua D. Angrist & Yusuke Narita & Parag Pathak, 2022. "Breaking Ties: Regression Discontinuity Design Meets Market Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(1), pages 117-151, January.
    7. Francesca Carta, 2019. "Female labour supply in Italy: the role of parental leave and child care policies," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 539, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    8. Francesca Carta & Lucia Rizzica, 2016. "Female employment and pre-kindergarten: On the unintended effects of an Italian reformAbstract: We theoretically show that when mothers need to buy childcare services not only if they work but also if," Working Papers 091, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    9. Sandner, Malte & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2018. "The Effects of Universal Public Childcare Provision on Cases of Child Neglect and Abuse," IZA Discussion Papers 11687, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Carta, Francesca & Rizzica, Lucia, 2018. "Early kindergarten, maternal labor supply and children's outcomes: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 79-102.
    11. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Siflinger, Bettina M., 2018. "The Effects of Day Care on Health During Childhood: Evidence by Age," IZA Discussion Papers 11447, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Hojman, Andrés & López Bóo, Florencia, 2019. "Cost-Effective Public Daycare in a Low-Income Economy Benefits Children and Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 12585, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Yusuke Narita, 2020. "A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Working Papers 2020-085, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    14. Andersland, Leroy, 2017. "A Universal Childcare Expansion, Quality, Starting Age, and School Performance," Working Papers in Economics 8/17, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    15. Herbst, Chris M., 2018. "The impact of quality rating and improvement systems on families’ child care choices and the supply of child care labor," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 172-190.
    16. Atila Abdulkadiroglu & Joshua D. Angrist & Yusuke Narita & Parag A. Pathak, 2017. "Impact Evaluation in Matching Markets with General Tie-Breaking," NBER Working Papers 24172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Werner, Katharina, 2018. "Obstacles to Efficient Allocations of Public Education Spending," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 128, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    18. Contreras, David & Sanchez, Rafael, 2018. "Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Effects of Nursery Care in the Medium Run under Unobserved Heterogeneity," MPRA Paper 86289, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Yusuke Narita, 2021. "A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 4982-5010, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Daycare; Childcare; Child development; Cognitive skills; Non-cognitive skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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