Abstract

This paper attempts to shed light on the redistributive effect of childcare policies in Catalonia. To this purpose, it examines the impact of a 2004 law aimed at increasing public childcare coverage for under three years-old in Catalonia on the participation in formal childcare for families from different socio-economic backgrounds. The policy is in line with the idea that high quality early childcare is more effective in reducing early life disadvantages than interventions in late childhood and adulthood. Nevertheless, several authors have warned that childcare policies may suffer from the so-called Matthew effect; i.e take-up rates of subsidised childcare are higher for high income groups than low income groups. This is especially the case when female labour force participation is highly stratified, coverage is low and working parents are prioritized in the access to public childcare; three conditions that, with some nuances, were present in the Catalan case prior to the reform. The paper exploits the uneven increase in public coverage across districts (comarques, in Catalan) to analyse its impact on the socio-economic participation gap. Given that the goal of the policy was not to attain full coverage but rather to reach EU recommendations of 30% coverage, it might be that the main beneficiaries of the increase in public coverage are middle-income classes who due to the lack of supply were previously relying on informal or private childcare. The paper uses Panell de Desigualtats Socials a Catalunya (PaD) database from Bofill Foundation, which has individual and household panel data of 5,785 individuals followed from 2001 until 2012. The dataset includes all necessary socio-economic information and, under the Secure Access Agreement, the household district (comarques) and municipality. The paper uses district fixed effects to alleviate endogeneity concerns. Yearly and district data on childcare coverage is taken from the Catalan Education department and Idescat. 

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Catalan 2004 law aimed at increasing public childcare coverage for under three years-old on the participation in formal childcare for families from different socio-economic backgrounds. To this purpose, it uses the ''Panell de Desigualtats Socials a Catalunya'' (PaD) database and exploits the uneven increase in public coverage across counties (comarques). The paper finds that while the policy alleviates the socio-economic participation gap between lower- and higher-income families, this one persists for certain sub-groups. More specifically, children whose parents have low education levels, or those from low-income families where the mother works part-time or is in charge of the house and children are significantly less likely to participate in formal childcare than their high-income counterparts.

Abstract