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Access to Head Start and Maternal Labor Supply: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence

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  • Jocelyn Wikle
  • Riley Wilson

Abstract

We explore how access to Head Start affects maternal labor supply. By relaxing childcare constraints, public preschools like Head Start might lead mothers to reallocate time among employment, childcare, and other activities. Using the 1990s enrollment and funding expansions and the 2002 Head Start Impact Study randomized controlled trial, we show that Head Start increases short-run employment and wage earnings of single mothers without reducing quality parent-child interactions. Even before including long-run benefits to children, the short-run benefit to single mothers and the government is $0.93 per dollar. Head Start is a family-level treatment with impacts beyond children.

Suggested Citation

  • Jocelyn Wikle & Riley Wilson, 2023. "Access to Head Start and Maternal Labor Supply: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(4), pages 1081-1127.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/720980
    DOI: 10.1086/720980
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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