Information asymmetries between parents and educators in German childcare institutions

Arbeitspapier

Economic theory predicts market failure in the market for early childhood education and care (ECEC) due to information asymmetries. We empirically investigate information asymmetries between parents and ECEC professionals in Germany, making use of a unique extension of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). It allows us to compare quality perceptions by parents and pedagogic staff of 734 ECEC institutions which were attended by children in SOEP households. Parents and staff were asked to rate the same quality measures. We detect considerable information asymmetries between these groups which differ across quality measures but little by parental socio-economic background or center characteristics. Our findings imply that information is not readily available to parents, an issue that should be addressed by policy-makers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DIW Discussion Papers ; No. 1693

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design ; Analysis of Education
• Subject: child care ; quality ; information asymmetries ; socio-economic differences ; Germany

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Camehl, Georg F. ; Schober, Pia S. ; Spieß, Christa Katharina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/171313
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET