Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36097 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4504
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The strong correlation between child care and maternal employment rates has led previous research to conclude that affordable and readily available child care is a driving force both of cross-country differences in maternal employment and of its rapid growth over the last decades. We analyze the introduction of subsidized, universally accessible child care in Norway. Our precise and robust difference-in-differences estimates reveal that there is little, if any, causal effect of child care on maternal employment, despite a strong correlation. Instead of increasing mothers' labor supply, the new subsidized child care mostly crowds out informal child care arrangements, suggesting a significant net cost of the child care subsidies.
Subjects: 
Universal child care
female labor force participation
JEL: 
J13
H40
J21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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