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Can't Buy Mommy's Love? Universal Childcare and Children's Long-Term Cognitive Development

Author Info

  • Felfe, Christina

    ()

    (University of St. Gallen)

  • Nollenberger, Natalia

    ()

    (Queen Mary, University of London)

  • Rodríguez-Planas, Núria

    ()

    (Queens College, CUNY)

Abstract

What happens to children's long-run cognitive development when introducing universal high-quality childcare for 3-year olds mainly crowds out maternal care? To answer this question we exploit a natural experiment framework and employ a difference-in-difference approach. We find sizable improvements in children's reading and math skills at age 15, as well as in grade progression during primary and secondary school. Effects are driven by girls and disadvantaged children.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 7053.

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Length: 51 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2012
Date of revision:
Publication status: forthcoming in: Journal of Population Economics
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7053
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Keywords: long-term consequences; cognitive skills; universal high-quality childcare;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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  1. Carneiro, Pedro & Loken, Katrine Vellesen & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2010. "A Flying Start? Long Term Consequences of Maternal Time Investments in Children During Their First Year of Life," IZA Discussion Papers 5362, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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Cited by:

  1. Florentino Felgueroso & María Gutiérrez-Domènech & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2013. "Dropout Trends and Educational Reforms: The Role of the LOGSE in Spain," Working Papers 2013-04, FEDEA.
  2. Felfe, Christina & Lalive, Rafael, 2013. "Early Child Care and Child Development: For Whom it Works and Why," CEPR Discussion Papers 9274, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  3. Ylenia Brilli & Daniela Del Boca & Chiara Monfardini, 2013. "Child Care Arrangements: Determinants and Consequences," CHILD Working Papers Series 18, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
  4. Felfe, Christina & Lalive, Rafael, 2014. "Does early child care help or hurt childrens's development?," Working Paper Series 2014:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
  5. Kottelenberg, Michael J. & Lehrer, Steven F., 2014. "Do the Perils of Universal Child Care Depend on the Child's Age?," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-14, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 26 Mar 2014.
  6. Felfe, Christina & Zierow, Larissa, 2013. "After-School Center-based Care and Children's Development," Economics Working Paper Series 1338, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
  7. ANDREOLI Francesco & HAVNES Tarjei & LEFRANC Arnaud, 2014. "Equalization of opportunity: Definitions, implementable conditions and application to early-childhood policy evaluation," CEPS/INSTEAD Working Paper Series 2014-12, CEPS/INSTEAD.

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