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Does child care availability play a role in maternal employment and children's development? Evidence from Italy

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  • Ylenia Brilli
  • Daniela Del Boca
  • Chiara D. Pronzato

Abstract

This paper investigates the e ects of public child care availability in Italy in mothers' working status and children's scholastic achievements. We use a newly available dataset containing individual standardized test scores of pupils attending the second grade of primary school in 2009-10 in conjunction with data on public child care availability. Our estimates indicate a positive and signi cant e ects of child care availability on both mothers' working status and children's Language test scores. We nd that a percentage change in public child care coverage increases mothers' probability to work by 1.3 percentage points and children's Language test scores by 0.85 percent of one standard deviation; we do not nd any e ect on Math test scores. Moreover, the impact of a percentage change in public child care on mothers' employment and children's Language test scores is greater in provinces where child care availability is more limited.

Suggested Citation

  • Ylenia Brilli & Daniela Del Boca & Chiara D. Pronzato, 2013. "Does child care availability play a role in maternal employment and children's development? Evidence from Italy," CHILD Working Papers Series 13, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wchild:13
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child care; female employment; child cognitive outcomes; test scores;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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