Working Paper: NBER ID: w8893
Authors: Ann Dryden Witte; Magaly Queralt; Robert Witt; Harriet Griesinger
Abstract: We provide descriptive evidence from Miami-Dade County (MDC), FL and from five representative areas in Massachusetts (MA) that government policies governing welfare reform, the child-care subsidy system and minimum-standards regulation have had considerable impact on the availability, price, and quality of infant and toddler care, as welfare reform progressed from 1996 to 2000. Among our more interesting findings are the following: (1) There has been more than a doubling of the number of low-income infants and toddlers with child care subsidies in formal care in MDC, an area where cash assistance recipients are required to be active when their youngest child is three years old; and (2) Child care centers in both MA and MDC appear to be subsidizing their infant and toddler programs; this helps to explain why it has been difficult to expand the amount of infant and toddler care available.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I38; H40; J22; I20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| government policies governing welfare reform and the childcare subsidy system (I38) | availability of infant and toddler care (J13) |
| increase in child care subsidies (J13) | increase in formal care enrollment (I21) |
| transition off cash assistance (I38) | increase in utilization of childcare subsidies (J13) |
| influx of subsidized infants and toddlers into formal care (J13) | displacement of unsubsidized children (J68) |