Supporting Childcare Supply in the United States: An Economic Policy Review and Research Agenda

Yazgı Genç and Sarah F. Small

Forum for Social Economics, 2025, vol. 54, issue 4, 459-477

Abstract: Childcare market failures have presented economic challenges in communities across the United States. What has prevented childcare supply from meeting demand? We examine childcare market failures in the US and discuss how they are distinct from other types of service markets. We then survey the literature on economic policies that intend to improve the childcare supply. Ultimately, our review suggests that improved worker wages, reduced bureaucratic burdens, and carefully planned public Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) programs are useful in boosting the childcare supply. However, several caveats remain, and ultimately, economic research on childcare supply remains limited in light of new COVID-related policy investments. Feminist economists have long argued for economic examination of care markets: we point to the need for future research from the perspective of paid care workers and overall social reproduction.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/07360932.2024.2308245 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:fosoec:v:54:y:2025:i:4:p:459-477

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RFSE20

DOI: 10.1080/07360932.2024.2308245

Access Statistics for this article

Forum for Social Economics is currently edited by William Milberg, Dr Wolfram Elsner, Philip O'Hara, Cecilia Winters and Paolo Ramazzotti

More articles in Forum for Social Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().