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Preventing Child Maltreatment: Beneficial Side Effects of Public Childcare

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  • Malte Sandner
  • Stephan L Thomsen
  • Libertad González

Abstract

We investigate the impact of public childcare provision on the incidence of severe child maltreatment. For identification, we exploit a reform that expanded early childcare in Germany, generating large temporal and spatial variation in childcare coverage at the county level. Using high-quality administrative data covering all reported cases of child maltreatment in Germany by county and year, we find that an increase in childcare slots by one percentage point in a county reduced child maltreatment cases leading to out-of-home placement by about 1%. Our results suggest that the provision of universal public childcare may be more cost effective than previously thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Malte Sandner & Stephan L Thomsen & Libertad González, 2025. "Preventing Child Maltreatment: Beneficial Side Effects of Public Childcare," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(665), pages 321-353.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:135:y:2025:i:665:p:321-353.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueae070
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    Cited by:

    1. Baertsch, Laurenz & Sandner, Malte, 2025. "Reducing the child penalty by incentivizing maternal part-time work?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Barschkett, Mara, 2026. "The early bird gets the germs? The impact of early daycare attendance on children’s health," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Rupieper, Li Kathrin Kaja & Thomsen, Stephan, 2026. "Adult Education and Political Participation: Evidence from East German Volkshochschulen," IZA Discussion Papers 18729, IZA Network @ LISER.

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