Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250541 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14880
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We explore how access to Head Start impacts maternal labor supply. By relaxing child care constraints, public preschool options like Head Start might lead mothers to reallocate time between employment, child care, and other activities. Using the 1990s enrollment and funding expansions and the 2002 Head Start Impact Study randomized control trial, we show that Head Start increases short-run employment and wage earnings of single mothers. The increase in labor supply does not appear to reduce quality parent-child interactions. Viewing Head Start as a bundle of family-level treatments can shed new light on the impacts of the program beyond children.
Subjects: 
Head Start
child care subsidies
maternal labor supply
JEL: 
J13
J22
H4
I28
H52
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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