IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v15y2015i2p589-619n17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Childcare Subsidies on Employment and Earnings of Low-Income Mothers

Author

Listed:
  • Zanoni Wladimir

    (Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, 1313 E 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA)

  • Weinberger Gabriel

    (Pardee RAND Graduate School, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA)

Abstract

This study examines how childcare subsidies funded by the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF – the most widespread childcare subsidy program in the United States) affect the employment status and earnings of low-income mothers. Employing a rich database of administrative records, we compute instrumental variables and control function estimates of the program’s effects. As an exclusion restriction, we take advantage of differences in efficiency levels across administrative agencies that process subsidy applications and payments. CCDF-funded subsidies have short-term effects that are primarily driven by changes in the extensive margin of labor supply. Mothers who are either unemployed or earning closer to the upper cutoff of eligibility benefit the most from participation in this program.

Suggested Citation

  • Zanoni Wladimir & Weinberger Gabriel, 2015. "Effects of Childcare Subsidies on Employment and Earnings of Low-Income Mothers," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 589-619, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:589-619:n:17
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2014-0128
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2014-0128
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2014-0128?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2007. "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1583-1610, December.
    2. Tekin, Erdal, 2005. "Child care subsidy receipt, employment, and child care choices of single mothers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 1-6, October.
    3. Kimmel, Jean, 1995. "The Effectiveness of Child-Care Subsidies in Encouraging the Welfare-to-Work Transition of Low-Income Single Mothers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 271-275, May.
    4. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
    5. Ribar, David C, 1995. "A Structural Model of Child Care and the Labor Supply of Married Women," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(3), pages 558-597, July.
    6. Erdal Tekin, 2007. "Childcare Subsidies, Wages, and Employment of Single Mothers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(2).
    7. David Blau & Erdal Tekin, 2007. "The determinants and consequences of child care subsidies for single mothers in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(4), pages 719-741, October.
    8. Herbst, Chris M., 2008. "Who are the eligible non-recipients of child care subsidies?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1037-1054, September.
    9. Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick, 2010. "Preschoolers Enrolled and Mothers at Work? The Effects of Universal Prekindergarten," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(1), pages 51-85, January.
    10. Dan A. Black & Jeffrey A. Smith, 2006. "Estimating the Returns to College Quality with Multiple Proxies for Quality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 701-728, July.
    11. Marcia Meyers & Theresa Heintze & Douglas Wolf, 2002. "Child care subsidies and the employment of welfare recipients," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 165-179, February.
    12. Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2009. "Maternal Labor Supply and the Introduction of Kindergartens into American Public Schools," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    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. Ha, Yoonsook & Miller, Daniel P., 2015. "Child care subsidies and employment outcomes of low-income families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 139-148.
    2. Herbst, Chris M., 2022. "Child Care in the United States: Markets, Policy, and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 15547, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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. Elizabeth E. Davis & Caroline Carlin & Caroline Krafft & Nicole D. Forry, 2018. "Do Child Care Subsidies Increase Employment Among Low-Income Parents?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 662-682, December.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. Ha, Yoonsook & Miller, Daniel P., 2015. "Child care subsidies and employment outcomes of low-income families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 139-148.
    5. Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2010. "The Impact of Child Care Subsidies on Child Well-Being: Evidence from Geographic Variation in the Distance to Social Service Agencies," IZA Discussion Papers 5102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Chris M. Herbst, 2023. "Child Care In The United States: Markets, Policy, And Evidence," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 255-304, January.
    7. Herbst, Chris M., 2022. "Child Care in the United States: Markets, Policy, and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 15547, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Taryn W. Morrissey, 2017. "Child care and parent labor force participation: a review of the research literature," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    9. Herbst, Chris M., 2013. "Universal Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children's Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence from the U.S. Lanham Act of 1940," IZA Discussion Papers 7846, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Chris Herbst, 2010. "The labor supply effects of child care costs and wages in the presence of subsidies and the earned income tax credit," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 199-230, June.
    11. Nollenberger, Natalia & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "Child Care, Maternal Employment and Persistence: A Natural Experiment from Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 5888, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Katrine V. L�ken & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2014. "Care or Cash? The Effect of Child Care Subsidies on Student Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(5), pages 824-837, December.
    13. 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.
    14. Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2011. "Do child care subsidies influence single mothers' decision to invest in human capital?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 901-912, October.
    15. Kabátek, Jan, 2015. "Essays on public policy and household decision making," Other publications TiSEM 8cdb178e-ad98-42e5-a7e1-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. Chris Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2011. "Child care subsidies and childhood obesity," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 349-378, September.
    17. Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2010. "Child care subsidies and child development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 618-638, August.
    18. Christina Gathmann & Björn Sass, 2018. "Taxing Childcare: Effects on Childcare Choices, Family Labor Supply, and Children," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(3), pages 665-709.
    19. Randy Albelda & Michael Carr, 2017. "One Step Forward, One Step Back? Labor Supply Effects of Minimum Wage Increases on Single Parents with Public Child Care Support," Working Papers 2017_01, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    20. Chris Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2012. "Child Care Subsidies, Maternal Well-Being, and Child-Parent Interactions: Evidence from Three Nationally Representative Datasets," Working Papers 1372, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bpj:bejeap:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:589-619:n:17. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.