A Dynamic Analysis of the Effect of Child Care Costs on the Work Decisions of Low-Income Mothers with Infants

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)

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

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716219884078 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 686 (1) ◽

pp. 310-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

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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MATERNAL GRANDMOTHERS AS CHILD CARE PROVIDERS FOR RURAL, LOW-INCOME MOTHERS

Journal of Children and Poverty ◽

10.1080/10796120600879590 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 159-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kathy L. Reschke ◽

Margaret M. Manoogian ◽

Leslie N. Richards ◽

Susan K. Walker ◽

Sharon B. Seiling

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Low Income ◽

Child Care Providers ◽

Care Providers ◽

Low Income Mothers

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The Challenge of Child Care for Rural Low-Income Mothers

Rural Families and Work - International Series on Consumer Science ◽

10.1007/978-1-4614-0382-1_7 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 117-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Susan K. Walker ◽

Margaret M. Manoogian

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Low Income ◽

Low Income Mothers

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Child Care, Work, and Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income Mothers

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x05285292 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 27 (5) ◽

pp. 609-632 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Julie Press ◽

Jay Fagan ◽

Elisa Bernd

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Low Income ◽

Well Being ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Child Care Work ◽

Welfare Participation ◽

Employment Conditions ◽

Low Income Mothers ◽

Care Problems

Focusing on social factors associated with increased depressive symptoms among working mothers living in poor urban neighborhoods, this study investigates the effects of welfare participation, employment conditions, and child care on women's emotional well-being. The authors use new data from the Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal minimal effects of welfare participation on depressive symptoms. However, women's employment characteristics and child care problems were significantly related to emotional well-being. Interaction effects between child care and employment were also explored. Mothers who had concerns about child care were more likely to report depressive symptoms when they had good-quality jobs (higher wages) or when they had only one job or were not unemployed.

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