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Childcare Costs and the Demand for Children - Evidence from a Nationwide Reform

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  • Eva Mörk
  • Anna Sjögren
  • Helena Svaleryd

Abstract

Exploiting the exogenous variation in childcare costs caused by a Swedish childcare reform, we are able to identify the causal effect of childcare costs on fertility in a context in which childcare enrollment is almost universal, user fees are low, and the labor force participation of mothers is very high. Anticipation of a reduction in childcare costs increased the number of first births, but only seemed to affect the timing of second births. We find a negative income effect for families with children already enrolled in child care.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Mörk & Anna Sjögren & Helena Svaleryd, 2010. "Childcare Costs and the Demand for Children - Evidence from a Nationwide Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 3210, CESifo Group Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3210
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Arindam Nandi & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2016. "The unintended effects of cash transfers on fertility: evidence from the Safe Motherhood Scheme in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 457-491, April.
    2. Erich Battistin & Michele De Nadai & Mario Padula, 2015. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma’s House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," Working Papers 748, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    3. Delia Furtado, 2016. "Fertility Responses of High-Skilled Native Women to Immigrant Inflows," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 27-53, February.
    4. Bloom, David E. & Luca, Dara Lee, 2016. "The Global Demography of Aging: Facts, Explanations, Future," IZA Discussion Papers 10163, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    5. Erich Battistin & Michele De Nadai & Mario Padula, 2015. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma�s House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," Working Papers 748, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    6. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2017:n:382 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Paul, Annemarie, 2015. "After work shopping? Employment effects of a deregulation of shop opening hours in the German retail sector," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 329-353.
    8. María Alzúa & Guillermo Cruces & Laura Ripani, 2013. "Welfare programs and labor supply in developing countries: experimental evidence from Latin America," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1255-1284, October.
    9. Angelov, Nikolay & Johansson, Per & Lee, Myoung-jae, 2017. "The effect of fertility timing on labor market work duration," Working Paper Series 2017:13, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Arindam Nandi & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2016. "The unintended effects of cash transfers on fertility: evidence from the Safe Motherhood Scheme in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 457-491, April.
    11. repec:bla:obuest:v:80:y:2018:i:4:p:843-869 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Siflinger, Bettina & van den Berg, Gerard, 2016. "The Effects of a Universal Child Care Reform on Child Health – Evidence from Sweden," Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145765, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Peter Bönisch & Walter Hyll, 2015. "Television Role Models and Fertility: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 752, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    14. Daniela Andrén & Thomas Andrén, 2016. "Women’s and men’s responses to in-work benefits: the influence of children," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, December.
    15. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2013. "Does Expanding Public Child Care Encourage Fertility? County-Level Evidence from Germany," ifo Working Paper Series 158, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    16. Agnese Romiti, 2018. "The Effects of Immigration on Household Services, Labour Supply and Fertility," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(4), pages 843-869, August.
    17. Nollenberger, Natalia & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "Child Care, Maternal Employment and Persistence: A Natural Experiment from Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 5888, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    18. Laura C. Blanco, 2017. "Inertial reproduction: is the two-child psychology the rule in Costa Rica?," Working Papers 201703, Universidad de Costa Rica, revised Dec 2017.
    19. Aalto, Aino-Maija & Mörk, Eva & Sjögren, Anna & Svaleryd, Helena, 2018. "Childcare - A safety net for children?," Working Paper Series 2018:11, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    20. Stefan Bauernschuster & Anita Fichtl & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2014. "Kinder einer Politikreform: Führen mehr Krippenplätze zu mehr Kindern?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 67(10), pages 30-37, May.
    21. Delia Furtado, 2015. "Can immigrants help women “have it all”? Immigrant labor and women’s joint fertility and labor supply decisions," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    22. Gahramanov, Emin & Gaibulloev, Khusrav & Younas, Javed, 2017. "Parental Transfers and Fertility: Does the Recipient's Gender Matter?," MPRA Paper 79531, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Bauernschuster, Stefan & Hener, Timo & Rainer, Helmut, 2013. "Does the Expansion of Public Child Care Increase Birth Rates? Evidence from a Low-Fertility Country," Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79909, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    24. repec:eee:hapoch:v1_3 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    childcare; cost of children; fertility; quasi-experiment; difference-in-differences;

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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