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Working mothers’ decisions on childcare: the case of Spain

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  • María Suárez

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze household decisions regarding the childcare of young children. We present two specifications. The first one assumes a sequential decision process. Firstly, parents choose between paid or unpaid care and, secondly, those who opt for paid childcare must decide whether to take their children to a nursery or pre-school or employ somebody to care for them. The second specification is a multinomial Logit in which it is assumed that parents choose from three alternatives: unpaid care, paid care by a nanny, and center-based care. We apply our models to a sample of working mothers with children under three. The database used is the 2008–2010 Spanish Survey of Quality of Working Life (Encuesta de Calidad de Vida en el Trabajo). The results are in line with previous work: Parental education, family composition, income and the characteristics of the mother’s job are important factors in determining the type of childcare chosen for under-three-year-olds. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • María Suárez, 2013. "Working mothers’ decisions on childcare: the case of Spain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 545-561, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:11:y:2013:i:4:p:545-561
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-013-9189-6
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    1. Vincenzo Galasso & Paola Profeta & Chiara Pronzato & Francesco Billari, 2017. "Information and Women’s Intentions: Experimental Evidence About Child Care," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 33(1), pages 109-128, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Childcare choice; Probit with selection; Multinomial Logit; J13; C25;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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