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One Billion Euro Program for Early Childcare Services in Italy

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  • Giorgetti, Isabella

    (Marche Polytechnic University)

  • Picchio, Matteo

    (Marche Polytechnic University)

Abstract

In 2007 the Italian central government started a program by transferring funds to regional governments to develop both private and public early childcare services. Exploiting the different timing of program implementation across regions, we evaluate its effectiveness in boosting the public supply of early childhood educational services. We find that the ratio between the available slots in public early childhood education and the population of those aged 0-2 increased by 18.1% three years after the start of the program, with respect to the pre-program level. The program impact was however nil in the South and totally driven by the Center-North.

Suggested Citation

  • Giorgetti, Isabella & Picchio, Matteo, 2018. "One Billion Euro Program for Early Childcare Services in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 11689, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11689
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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. Debora Di Gioacchino & Emanuela Ghignoni & Alina Verashchagina, 2020. "To be or not to be a (good) mother: Life-long decisions of women in Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 193, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    3. Luigi Brighi & Paolo Silvestri, 2019. "Inefficiency in Childcare Production: Evidence from Italian Microdata," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 5(1), pages 103-133, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    early childcare services; public early childhood education; government transfers; difference-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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