Daycare Enrollment Age and Child Development

Mette Gørtz, Vibeke Jensen and Sarah Sander ()
Additional contact information
Sarah Sander: University of Copenhagen

No 16881, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Many parents return to work, placing their child in nonparental care before the age of one. Using variations in daycare vacancy rates, we estimate the causal effects of enrollment age in universal daycare on child development. In general, we find no evidence that earlier enrollment harms early child development, except for a temporary health shock. Children who enter later initially have fewer primary care visits, but the effects fade in preschool. Conversely, the results suggest some positive effects of early enrollment. Children who enter daycare later are more likely to demonstrate inadequate language skills by age five, particularly among boys.

Keywords: daycare; child development; health; cognitive skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I00 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2024-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-ltv and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Daycare Enrollment Age and Child Development (2023)
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