Can’t buy mommy’s love? Universal childcare and children’s long-term cognitive development

Christina Felfe, Natalia Nollenberger () and Núria Rodriguez-Planas

Journal of Population Economics, 2015, vol. 28, issue 2, 393-422

Abstract: What happens to children’s long-run cognitive development when introducing universal high-quality childcare for 3-year-olds mainly crowds out family care? To answer this question, we take advantage of a sizeable expansion of publicly subsidized full-time high-quality childcare for 3-year-olds in Spain in the early 1990s. Identification relies on variation in the initial speed of the expansion of childcare slots across states. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we find strong evidence for sizeable improvements in children’s reading skills at age 15 (0.15 standard deviation) and weak evidence for a reduction in grade retentions during primary school (2.5 percentage points). The effects are driven by girls and disadvantaged children. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Keywords: Universal high-quality childcare; Long-term consequences; Cognitive skills; J13; I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (43)

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Working Paper: Can't Buy Mommy's Love? Universal Childcare and Children's Long-Term Cognitive Development (2013)
Working Paper: Can't Buy Mommy's Love? Universal Childcare and Children's Long-Term Cognitive Development (2012)
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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-014-0532-x

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