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A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families

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  • Chloe Gibbs
  • Jocelyn S. Wikle
  • Riley Wilson

Abstract

We leverage pronounced changes in the availability of public schooling for young children—through duration expansions to the kindergarten day—to better understand how an implicit childcare subsidy affects mothers and families. Exploiting full-day kindergarten variation across place and time from 1992 through 2022 and novel data on state-level policy changes, combined with a comparison of children of typical kindergarten age to older children, we measure effects on parental labor supply and family childcare expenses. Results suggest that families are responsive to these shifts. Full-day kindergarten expansions were responsible for as much as 24 percent of the growth in employment of mothers with kindergarten-aged children in this time frame.

Suggested Citation

  • Chloe Gibbs & Jocelyn S. Wikle & Riley Wilson, 2025. "A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families," NBER Working Papers 33948, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33948
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • 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

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