Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/161284 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10661
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
While recent studies mostly find that attending child care earlier improves the skills of children from low socio-economic and non-native backgrounds in the short-run, it remains unclear whether such positive effects persist. We identify the short- and medium-run effects of early child care attendance in Germany using a fuzzy discontinuity in child care starting age between December and January. This discontinuity arises as children typically start formal child care in the summer of the calendar year in which they turn three. Combining rich survey and administrative data, we follow one cohort from age five to 15 and examine standardised cognitive test scores, non-cognitive skill measures, and school track choice. We find no evidence that starting child care earlier affects children's outcomes in the short- or medium-run. Our precise estimates rule out large effects for children whose parents have a strong preference for sending them to early child care.
Subjects: 
child care
child development
skill formation
cognitive skills
non-cognitive skills
fuzzy regression discontinuity
JEL: 
J13
I21
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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