Efectos de la provisión universal de educación preescolar sobre la asistencia y la participación laboral femenina. Evidencia para el caso uruguayo

The provision of public preschool is expected to facilitate families, particularly mothers, their link with the labor market. However, empirical evidence on its effects is inconclusive. This research estimates the effect of an expansion in the provision of public preschool, held in Uruguay in the mid-1990s, on the attendance of children 4 and 5 years old to preschool and on the participation of mothers in the labor market. Following Duflo (2001) and Berlinski and Galiani (2007), the identification strategy exploits the differences in the number of new places available across regions, produced by the timing and priorities of the program. The results indicate that the expansion of places increased the preschool's attendance although the take up rate in Uruguay was relatively low in comparison with the result of the same policy in similar countries (as in the case of Argentina). This was partially because the expansion of public places crowded out the attendance to private schools, particularly among children of high-skill mothers. The policy was much more effective in increasing the attendance of children of lowskill mothers. For this group of mothers, it would be expected to find a positive effect on employment or activity. However, we did not find any effect of the policy on their labor market outcomes.