The kindergarten attendance allowance in Hungary

Gabor Kertesi and Gabor Kezdi

Acta Oeconomica, 2014, vol. 64, issue 1, 27-49

Abstract: This paper evaluates the kindergarten attendance allowance program in Hungary, a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program introduced in 2009 that aimed to increase kindergarten enrolment of disadvantaged children aged 3 and 4. The administration of the program was decentralised, and we make use of the substantial regional variation in program take-up across municipalities to estimate the program’s effect on enrolment rates. We show modest, but non-negligible effects, despite problems related to the manner of the program’s implementation. We also show that the effects were significantly stronger in areas characterised by an excess supply of kindergarten slots. The results testify to the potential of CCT programs to create demand for child-care services among disadvantaged families; however, the results also highlight the importance of creating an adequate supply of kindergarten facilities where needed.

Keywords: kindergarten allowance; disadvantaged children; Hungary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I38 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: Support from the OTKA Grant 101409-K is gratefully acknowledged. The translation was sponsored by the Roma Education Fund. An earlier version of this paper was a background study for a policy paper on poverty in Hungary by Tárki and the Budapest Institute. We thank Péter Dívós, Tímea Laura Molnár and Melinda Tir for their help with data management and the analysis, Ágnes Bezeczky for her help with the translation, and Klára Csányi, Ildikó Kovátsné Puskás, Tibor Könyvesi, Éva Surányi and Judit Várhidiné Kelemen for their help with data and information collection. For a Hungarian language version of this paper, see Kertesi – Kézdi (2012).
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