Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/335201 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Helsinki GSE Discussion Papers No. 53
Publisher: 
Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper provides large-scale evidence linking the economic effects of childcare programs to social skills measured in adulthood. We examine Finland's first national public childcare program, and document that it increased parental labor supply - through retirement - while reducing the intergenerational persistence of income. Critically, we leverage Finnish Defence Forces data on the near population of males to show that effects on children's adult income are underlied by lasting effects on social skills. Further, we show that life-cycle cost-effectiveness estimates based on the assumption of constant effects after typical observation windows can considerably overestimate the net costs of public childcare.
Subjects: 
early childhood
social skills
parental labor supply
JEL: 
J08
I24
J24
ISBN: 
978-952-7543-52-8
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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