Childcare closures and female entrepreneurship

Tessa Conroy () and Anil Rupasingha ()
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Tessa Conroy: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Anil Rupasingha: USDA - Economic Research Service

The Annals of Regional Science, 2025, vol. 74, issue 2, No 28, 28 pages

Abstract: Abstract In the absence of childcare, self-employment may be an attractive option for women needing to earn an income and care for children. To study the impact of childcare on women’s entrepreneurial activity, we use a quasi-experimental framework based on regional variation in childcare availability. Treated counties, those facing a childcare closure policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, are matched with an untreated control group of counties to identify the effect of closure on female entrepreneurship. Our results suggest that treated counties saw an increase in the number of new female-owned businesses as a result of childcare closures indicating an important relationship between local childcare availability and women’s labor force outcomes. The result is robust to several estimation techniques. These results, observed only one year post-treatment, may reflect a temporary adaptation rather than a sustained shift in women’s entrepreneurial activities.

JEL-codes: J13 L26 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s00168-025-01393-3

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