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Inequality in Early Care Experienced by US Children

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  • Sarah Flood
  • Joel McMurry
  • Aaron Sojourner
  • Matthew Wiswall

Abstract

Using multiple datasets on parental and non-parental care provided to children up to age six, we quantify differences in American children's care experiences by socioeconomic status (SES), proxied primarily with maternal education. Increasingly, higher SES children spend less time with their parents and more time in the care of others. Non-parental care for high-SES children is more likely to be in childcare centers, where average quality is higher, and less likely to be provided by relatives, where average quality is lower. Even within types of childcare, higher-SES children tend to receive care of higher measured quality and higher cost. Inequality is evident at home as well: measures of parental enrichment at home, from both self-reports and outside observers, are on average higher for higher-SES children. Parental and non-parental quality are positively correlated, leading to substantial inequality in the total quality of care received from all sources in early childhood.

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  • Sarah Flood & Joel McMurry & Aaron Sojourner & Matthew Wiswall, 2022. "Inequality in Early Care Experienced by US Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 199-222, Spring.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:36:y:2022:i:2:p:199-222
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.36.2.199
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2024. "Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free College or Better Schools," NBER Working Papers 32467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bigoni, Maria & Bortolotti, Stefania & Fort, Margherita & Guarini, Annalisa & Iorio, Daniela & Monfardini, Chiara & Sansavini, Alessandra & Sansone, Davide & Suttora, Chiara, 2023. "A New Time-Use Diary App to Measure Parental Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 16661, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Natasha V. Pilkauskas & Katherine Michelmore, 2023. "Who’s Caring for the Kids? The Earned Income Tax Credit and Childcare Arrangements," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 706(1), pages 37-64, March.
    5. Markussen, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2023. "The rising influence of family background on early school performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Taryn W. Morrissey, 2023. "The minimum wage and parent time use," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1043-1062, September.
    7. Ali, Umair & Brown, Jessica H. & Herbst, Chris M., 2022. "Secure Communities as Immigration Enforcement: How Secure Is the Child Care Market?," IZA Discussion Papers 15821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. David M. Blau, 2022. "The Case For Targeted Preschool And Childcare Subsidies," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 929-937, June.
    9. Kertesi, Gábor & Kézdi, Gábor & Hajdu, Tamás, 2022. "Idő és pénz a gyermeknevelésben Magyarországon, 1993-2010 [Time and money in raising children in Hungary, 1993-2010]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1255-1297.
    10. Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2024. "Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free College or Better Schools," PIER Working Paper Archive 24-023, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    11. Herbst, Chris M., 2024. "The Declining Relative Quality of the Child Care Workforce," IZA Discussion Papers 17351, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Herbst, Chris M., 2022. "Child Care in the United States: Markets, Policy, and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 15547, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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