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The Geographic Accessibility of Child Care Subsidies and Evidence on the Impact of Subsidy Receipt on Childhood Obesity

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  • Chris M. Herbst
  • Erdal Tekin

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the spatial accessibility of public human services agencies on the likelihood of receiving a child care subsidy among disadvantaged mothers with young children. In particular, we collect data on the location of virtually every human services agency in the U.S. and use this information to calculate the approximate distance that families must travel from home in order to reach the nearest office that administers the subsidy application process. Using data from the Kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K), our results indicate that an increase in the distance to a public human services agency reduces the likelihood that a family receives a child care subsidy. Specifically, we estimate an elasticity of subsidy receipt with respect to distance of -0.13. The final section of the paper provides an empirical application in which we use variation in families' travel distance to identify the causal effect of child care subsidies on children's weight outcomes. Our instrumental variables estimates suggest that subsidized child care leads to sizeable increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among low-income children.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris M. Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2011. "The Geographic Accessibility of Child Care Subsidies and Evidence on the Impact of Subsidy Receipt on Childhood Obesity," NBER Working Papers 17471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17471
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    Cited by:

    1. Chris Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2012. "Child Care Subsidies, Maternal Well-Being, and Child-Parent Interactions: Evidence from Three Nationally Representative Datasets," Working Papers 1372, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    2. Herbst, Chris M., 2018. "The rising cost of child care in the United States: A reassessment of the evidence," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 13-30.
    3. Chris M. Herbst, 2023. "Child Care In The United States: Markets, Policy, And Evidence," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 255-304, January.
    4. Thomas Cornelissen & Christian Dustmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2018. "Who Benefits from Universal Child Care? Estimating Marginal Returns to Early Child Care Attendance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(6), pages 2356-2409.
    5. Julio J. Guzman, 2019. "The demand for child care subsidies under rationing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1349-1379, December.
    6. Herbst, Chris M., 2013. "Universal Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children's Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence from the U.S. Lanham Act of 1940," IZA Discussion Papers 7846, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. repec:pri:crcwel:wp11-20-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Hu, Yujie & Sherlock, Phillip & Huang, Jing & Knopf, Herman T. & Hall, Jaclyn M., 2024. "Unveiling spatial mismatch in childcare supply and demand: An excess commuting analysis of home-to-childcare distance in subsidized families," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    9. Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2012. "The geographic accessibility of child care subsidies and evidence on the impact of subsidy receipt on childhood obesity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 37-52.
    10. Herbst, Chris M., 2013. "The impact of non-parental child care on child development: Evidence from the summer participation “dip”," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 86-105.
    11. Herbst, Chris M., 2018. "The impact of quality rating and improvement systems on families’ child care choices and the supply of child care labor," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 172-190.
    12. Herbst, Chris M., 2012. "The Impact of Non-Parental Child Care on Child Development: Evidence from the Summer Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 7039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Johnson, Anna D. & Herbst, Chris M., 2013. "Can we trust parental reports of child care subsidy receipt?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 984-993.
    14. Bullinger, Lindsey Rose & Fleckman, Julia M. & Fong, Kelley, 2021. "Proximity to SNAP-authorized retailers and child maltreatment reports," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    15. Herbst, Chris M., 2022. "Child Care in the United States: Markets, Policy, and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 15547, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Martin, Molly A., 2021. "What is the causal effect of income gains on youth obesity? Leveraging the economic boom created by the Marcellus Shale development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    17. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-01-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Chris M. Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2014. "Child Care Subsidies, Maternal Health, And Child–Parent Interactions: Evidence From Three Nationally Representative Datasets," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(8), pages 894-916, August.
    19. Francisca Dussaillant, 2016. "Usage of Child Care and Education Centers," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, June.
    20. Erdal Tekin, 2014. "Childcare subsidy policy: What it can and cannot accomplish," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-43, July.

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    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • R53 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Public Facility Location Analysis; Public Investment and Capital Stock

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