Children of a (Policy) Revolution: The Introduction of Universal Child Care and its Effect on Fertility

Stefan Bauernschuster, Timo Hener and Helmut Rainer

No 4776, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: What role does affordable and widely available public child care play for fertility? We exploit a major German reform generating large temporal and spatial variation in child care coverage for children under the age of three. Our precise and robust estimates on birth register data reveal that increases in public child care have significant positive effects on fertility. The fertility effects are more pronounced at the intensive than at the extensive margin, and are not driven by tempo effects or selective migration. Our findings inform policy makers concerned about suboptimally low fertility by suggesting that universal early child care holds the promise of being an effective means of increasing birth rates.

Keywords: public child care; fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Related works:
Journal Article: CHILDREN OF A (POLICY) REVOLUTION: THE INTRODUCTION OF UNIVERSAL CHILD CARE AND ITS EFFECT ON FERTILITY (2016)
Journal Article: Children of a (Policy) Revolution: The Introduction of Universal Child Care and Its Effect on Fertility (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4776

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