The Effects of Day Care on Health During Childhood: Evidence by Age

Gerard van den Berg and Bettina M. Siflinger ()
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Bettina M. Siflinger: Tilburg University

No 11447, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of day care exposure on behavioral disorders and mental and physical health at various ages during childhood. We draw on a unique set of merged population register data from Sweden over the period 1999-2008. This includes merged information at the individual level from the inpatient and outpatient registers, the population register and the income tax register. The outpatient register contains all ambulatory care contacts including all contacts with physicians and therapists. Visits are recorded by day, and comprehensive diagnoses are recorded for each visit. By exploiting variation in day care exposure by age generated by a major day care policy reform, we estimate cumulative and instantaneous effects on child health at different ages. We find a positive cumulative impact on behavior at primary school ages, in particular for children from low socio-economic status households, and substitution of infections from primary school ages to low ages. All this affects health care utilization and leads to a moderate reduction in health care costs. Results are confirmed by analyses based on a sibling design and on regional and household-specific components of day care fees.

Keywords: health registers; education; illness; behavioral disorders; non-cognitive ability; infections; pre-school; child care; day-care fees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C25 C83 I12 J13 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2018-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published as 'The effects of a daycare reform on health in childhood - Evidence from Sweden ' in: Journal of Health Economics, 2022, 81, 102577

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Related works:
Working Paper: The effects of day care on health during childhood: evidence by age (2020)
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