Childcare, labor supply, and business development: Experimental evidence from Uganda

Kjetil Bjorvatn, Denise Ferris, Selim Gulesci, Arne Nasgowitz, Vincent Somville and Lore Vandewalle

No 17243, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In a field experiment in Uganda, mothers of young children are randomly offered a childcare subsidy, an equivalent cash grant, both or nothing. Childcare leads to a 44 percent increase in household income, which is at least as large as the impact of the cash grant and driven by an increase in mothers' business revenues and fathers' wage earnings. The childcare subsidy also improves child development while the cash grant does not. Overall, our findings demonstrate that childcare subsidies can be an effective policy to simultaneously promote child development and reduce poverty in a low-income context.

Keywords: Childcare; Pre-school; Cash transfers; Income; Labor supply; entrepreneurship; Gender; Child development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04
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