Search Results
Working Paper
Intra-household allocation and the mental health of children: structural estimation analysis
This paper estimates the structural parameters of a dynamic model where parents with one child periodically decide whether or not their child uses various mental health services. In this model, mental health services improve a child's mental health (which parents care about), however, mental health services may be costly to the parents both in terms of utility and household consumption. Using a panel data set collected as part of the Fort Bragg Mental Health Demonstration, we estimate the model with a maximum likelihood procedure that accounts for unobservable differences in mental health ...
Journal Article
Pandemic, Rising Costs Challenge Child Care Industry
As the economy recovers and more parents return to work, declining child care capacity, combined with higher wages, could continue to push up costs.
Journal Article
Corporations, child care, and changing times
Offering child-care benefits may improve a company's bottom line.
Journal Article
Family values: child care in the '90s
Do Workforce Barriers Differ among Eighth District States?
An analysis of census data among Eighth District states finds that the main reasons given by adults for their inability to join the workforce differed by geography.
Journal Article
Child care costs and the return-to-work decisions of new mothers
Women's labor force participation has nearly doubled in the past 50 years. The increase has been even more dramatic for women with young children, and recent reforms to welfare programs are likely to push the participation rate for this segment even higher. This article examines the economic determinants of a woman's decision to return to work quickly following childbirth, looking in particular at sensitivity to child care costs.
Briefing
Recent Trends in Vermont Childcare: A Decrease in Capacity, Increases in Cost and Quality, and Policy Responses
For many parents, particularly mothers, the availability and affordability of paid childcare determines whether they can formally participate in the workforce. Studies show that because mothers traditionally bear a larger share of childcare responsibilities, their labor market participation rate is disproportionally affected by childcare considerations. This Regional Brief focuses on childcare capacity in Vermont, specifically on state-licensed childcare for children under school age. It studies how the capacity has changed in the last decade and how those changes have affected the cost and ...
Estimating the Affordability of Child Care across U.S. States
Wages and child-to-staff ratios are key drivers of child care costs at licensed centers. A model shows the relationship between these factors and costs as a share of household income.
Working Paper
An analysis of women's return-to-work decisions following first birth
Women's labor force participation rate has increased sharply over the last two decades. The increase has been particularly dramatic for married women with young children suggesting that women are spending less time out of the labor force for child-bearing and rearing. Using the relatively detailed information available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper explores women's decisions to return to work within one year of the birth of their first child, focusing particularly on the effect of child care costs. Consistent with economic theory, women who face lower child care ...
Child Care Remains Central to an Equitable Recovery
Affordable child care can raise labor participation and productivity, as well as improve gender equity and the economic security of mothers, particularly women of color.