Arbeitspapier
The impact of non-parental child care on child development: Evidence from the summer participation "dip"
Although a large literature examines the effect of non-parental child care on preschool-aged children's cognitive development, few studies deal convincingly with the potential endogeneity of child care choices. Using a panel of infants and toddlers from the Birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B), this paper attempts to provide causal estimates by leveraging heretofore unrecognized seasonal variation in child care participation. Child assessments in the ECLS-B were conducted on a rolling basis throughout the year, and I use the participation dip among those assessed during the summer as the basis for an instrumental variable. The summer participation dip is likely to be exogenous because ECLS-B administrators strictly controlled the mechanism by which children were assigned to assessment dates. The OLS results show that children utilizing non-parental arrangements score higher on tests of mental ability, a finding that holds after accounting for individual fixed effects. However, the instrumental variables estimates point to sizeable negative effects of non-parental care. The adverse effects are driven by participation in formal settings, and, contrary to previous research, I find that disadvantaged children do not benefit from exposure to non-parental child care settings.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 7039
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- Subject
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child care
child development
maternal employment
Kinderbetreuung
Kinder
Kognition
Mütter
Erwerbstätigkeit
Schätzung
USA
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Herbst, Chris M.
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
- (where)
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Bonn
- (when)
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2012
- Handle
- Last update
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10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Herbst, Chris M.
- Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Time of origin
- 2012