Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52113 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5918
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the effects of public childcare availability in Italy on mothers' working status and children's scholastic achievements. We use a newly available dataset containing individual standardized test scores of pupils attending second grade of primary school in 2008-09 in conjunction with data on public childcare availability. Public childcare coverage in Italy is scarce (12.7 percent versus the OECD average of 30 percent) and the service is rationed each municipality allocates the available slots according to eligibility criteria. We contribute to the existing literature taking into account rationing in public childcare access and the functioning of the childcare market. Our estimates indicate that childcare availability has positive and significant effects on both mothers' working status and children's language test scores. The effects are stronger when the degree of rationing is high and for low educated mothers and children living in lower income areas of the country.
Subjects: 
childcare
female employment
child cognitive outcomes
JEL: 
J13
D1
H75
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
425.68 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.