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Mother's time allocation, child care and child cognitive development

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  • Ylenia Brilli

    (Department of Economics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of maternal time allocation between work, child care, and leisure and non-parental child care on a child's cognitive development. By using data for the US from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we estimate a model that takes into account the heterogeneity in a mother's child-care productivity induced by her level of education and the various impacts of non-parental child care given by the different child care types available in the market. The results show that mothers with at least some college education are more effective than their less-educated counterparts in boosting their children's cognitive skills through their child-care time. Moreover, formal child care is found to be more productive than informal child care, especially during a child's first years of life. The simulation of policies aimed at increasing mothers' labor supply or at regulating the non-parental child care market shows that the effects on the children's cognitive outcomes are greater for the children of less educated mothers, but may be negative for the children of the highly educated, who benefit less from replacing their mother's time with the alternative care provider's time.

Suggested Citation

  • Ylenia Brilli, 2021. "Mother's time allocation, child care and child cognitive development," Working Papers 2021: 30, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
  • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2021:30
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniela Del Boca & Enrica Maria Martino & Chiara Pronzato, 2022. "Non cognitive skills and childcare attendance," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1059-1085, December.
    2. Ylenia Brilli & Simone Moriconi, 2023. "Culture of Origin, Parenting, and Household Labor Supply," Working Papers 2023: 17, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    3. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner & Joseph Mullins & Youngmin Park, 2020. "Child Skill Production: Accounting for Parental and Market-Based Time and Goods Investments," NBER Working Papers 27838, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Iacopo Morchio, 2022. "Policies for Early Childhood Skills Formation: Accounting for Parental Choices and Noncognitive Skills," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 22/755, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    5. Jorge Rodriguez, 2017. "Understanding the Effects of Income and Child Care Subsidies on Children's Academic Achievement," 2017 Papers pro1077, Job Market Papers.
    6. Daniela Del Boca & Christopher Flinn & Daniela Piazzalunga & Chiara Pronzato & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Matthew Wiswall, 2018. "Childcare Choices and Child Development: a Cross-Country Analysis," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 556, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    7. Bigoni, Maria & Bortolotti, Stefania & Fort, Margherita & Guarini, Annalisa & Iorio, Daniela & Monfardini, Chiara & Sansavini, Alessandra & Sansone, Davide & Suttora, Chiara, 2023. "A New Time-Use Diary App to Measure Parental Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 16661, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Marlon R. Tracey & Chanita C. Holmes & Marvin G. Powell, 2024. "Parental limit-setting decisions and adolescent subject grades," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 143-171, March.
    9. Nicoletti, Cheti & Tonei, Valentina, 2020. "Do parental time investments react to changes in child’s skills and health?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mother employment; mother time allocation; non-parental child care; child development; structural estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • 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
    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General

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