Discrimination in Universal Social Programs? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Access to Child Care

Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Fabian Mierisch, Frauke Peter and Simon Wiederhold ()

No 10368, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We provide the first causal evidence of discrimination against migrants seeking child care. We send emails from fictitious parents to > 18, 000 early child care centers across Germany, asking if there is a slot available and how to apply. Randomly varying names to signal migration background, we find that migrants receive 4.4 percentage points fewer responses. Responses to migrants also contain substantially fewer slot offers, are shorter, and less encouraging. Exploring channels, discrimination against migrants does not differ by the perceived educational background of the email sender. However, it does differ by regional characteristics, being stronger in areas with lower shares of migrants in child care, higher right-wing vote shares, and lower financial resources. Discrimination on the child care market likely perpetuates existing inequalities of opportunities for disadvantaged children.

Keywords: child care; discrimination; information provision; inequality; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J13 J18 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Discrimination in Universal Social Programs? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Access to Child Care (2024)
Working Paper: Discrimination in Universal Social Programs? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Access to Child Care (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10368

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