scholarly journals Efficient Child Care Subsidies

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Ho ◽  
Nicola Pavoni
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Child Care Subsidies ◽  
Optimal Program ◽  
The Us ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Welfare Problem ◽  
Care Costs

We study the design of child care subsidies in an optimal welfare problem with heterogeneous private market productivities. The optimal subsidy schedule is qualitatively similar to the existing US scheme. Efficiency mandates a subsidy on formal child care costs, with higher subsidies paid to lower income earners and a kink as a function of child care expenditure. Marginal labor income tax rates are set lower than the labor wedges, with the potential to generate negative marginal tax rates. We calibrate our simple model to features of the US labor market and focus on single mothers with children aged below 6. The optimal program provides stronger participation but milder intensive margin incentives for low-income earners with subsidy rates starting very high and decreasing with income more steeply than those in the United States. (JEL D82, H21, H24, J13, J16, J32)

Child Care in the United States and Industrialized Nations

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 1081-1083
Author(s):  
Carollee Howes ◽  
Kristin Droege
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Industrialized Nations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Child Care Services

Although the US does subsidize a portion of child-care services via tax credits for the middle class and subsidized care for low-income families, it has no parental-leave policy, no national system of child-care services, and no national standards of quality. This nonsystem of child care is in great contrast to the situation in most industrialized nations, which do have parental-leave and child-care systems with quality standards acceptable to most American experts. We believe that the greatest obstacle to such a system within the US lies in the premise that children are the responsibility of individual families and that responsible mothers will remain home to care for them. This is ironic in a country that claims to believe in diversity and parental choice. Our nonsystem of child care fails to serve the diverse needs of families and greatly restricts parents' choices.

scholarly journals The convergence of racial and income disparities in health insurance coverage in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
De-Chih Lee ◽  
Hailun Liang ◽  
Leiyu Shi
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Medical Expenditure ◽  
The Us ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Vulnerability Measure

Abstract Objective This study applied the vulnerability framework and examined the combined effect of race and income on health insurance coverage in the US. Data source The household component of the US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) of 2017 was used for the study. Study design Logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between insurance coverage status and vulnerability measure, comparing insured with uninsured or insured for part of the year, insured for part of the year only, and uninsured only, respectively. Data collection/extraction methods We constructed a vulnerability measure that reflects the convergence of predisposing (race/ethnicity), enabling (income), and need (self-perceived health status) attributes of risk. Principal findings While income was a significant predictor of health insurance coverage (a difference of 6.1–7.2% between high- and low-income Americans), race/ethnicity was independently associated with lack of insurance. The combined effect of income and race on insurance coverage was devastating as low-income minorities with bad health had 68% less odds of being insured than high-income Whites with good health. Conclusion Results of the study could assist policymakers in targeting limited resources on subpopulations likely most in need of assistance for insurance coverage. Policymakers should target insurance coverage for the most vulnerable subpopulation, i.e., those who have low income and poor health as well as are racial/ethnic minorities.

Barriers to subsidies: why low-income families do not use child care subsidies

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne B Shlay ◽  
Marsha Weinraub ◽  
Michelle Harmon ◽  
Henry Tran
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Child Care Subsidies ◽  
Low Income Families

Child care subsidies and care arrangements of low-income parents

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nevbahar Ertas ◽  
Susan Shields
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Child Care Subsidies

The Role of Child-Care Subsidies in the Lives of Low-Income Children

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna D. Johnson ◽  
Rebecca M. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Child Care Subsidies ◽  
Low Income Children

Politics, Power, and Money

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-118
Author(s):  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Public Health Infrastructure ◽  
The Us ◽  
Data Informed ◽  
Disproportionate Burden ◽  
Trump Administration

This chapter investigates how politics and power shape health outcomes, with special emphasis on how these forces intersect with economic inequality and the disproportionate burden of sickness experienced by low-income populations. During the spread of COVID-19, American political leadership faced a test of its ability to respond to sudden crisis. Rising to such a difficult occasion requires detailed plans for what to do in such a scenario, robust public health infrastructure, and leadership which takes decisive, data-informed action, listening to experts and communicating clearly and consistently with the public. Tragically, COVID-19 found the United States lacking in all these areas. Political leaders are in a position to mold public opinion, nudging the public mind towards new ways of thinking. The precise term for this is “shifting the Overton window.” By helping to mainstream a cavalier attitude towards COVID-19, the Trump administration shifted the Overton window towards greater acceptance of behaviors which create poorer health. The chapter then looks at the failure to adequately address race in the US. Among the factors that shape health, the area of race is particularly sensitive to political dynamics.

Child Care and Child Care Policy: Existing Policies, Their Effects, and Reforms

2019 ◽  
Vol 686 (1) ◽  
pp. 310-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Joseph Hotz ◽  
Matthew Wiswall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Children And Parents ◽  
Provide Child Care ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Low Income Mothers

We analyze policies that support and affect the provision and costs of child care in the United States. These policies are motivated by at least three objectives: (1) improving the cognitive and social development of young children, (2) facilitating maternal employment, and (3) alleviating poverty. We summarize this policy landscape and the evidence on the effects they have on the development of children and parents. We provide a summary of the use and costs of nonparental child care services; and we summarize existing policies and programs that subsidize child care costs, provide child care to certain groups, and regulate various aspects of the services provided in the United States. We then review the evidence on the effects that child care policies have on these objectives. We go on to discuss the existing evidence of their effects on various outcomes. Finally, we outline three reform proposals that will both facilitate work by low-income mothers and improve the quality of child care that their children receive.

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