Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267152 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
DICE Discussion Paper No. 394
Publisher: 
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Düsseldorf
Abstract: 
We present experimental evidence that enabling access to universal early child care for families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) increases maternal labor supply. Our intervention provides families with customized help for child care applications, resulting in a large increase in enrollment among lower-SES families. The treatment increases lower-SES mothers' full-time employment rates by 9 percentage points (+160%), household income by 10%, and mothers' earnings by 22%. The effect on full-time employment is largely driven by increased care hours provided by child care centers and fathers. Overall, the treatment substantially improves intra-household gender equality in terms of child care duties and earnings.
Subjects: 
child care
maternal employment
gender equality
randomized controlled trial
JEL: 
D90
J13
J18
J22
C93
ISBN: 
978-3-86304-393-3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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