The Effects of Child Care Provision in Mexico

Abstract

In 2007, seeking to increase female labor force participation and more generally ease burdens on working women, the Mexican government introduced an enormous expansion of a child care program: Estancias Infantiles para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras (EI). EI covers 90 percent approximately of the cost of enrolling a child under age four at a formal child care center and is intended to benefit women who are looking for work, in school, or working-with the exception of those who already have access to child care because their job is covered by Mexico's social security system (IMSS). The roll-out of EI was so fast and intense that, by mid-2010, it had approximately 357,000 child care spaces. In order to identify the effects of the program I use a combination of triple differences and synthetic control methods, and find that EI increased women's probability of working and reduced the time they devoted to child rearing. EI also caused women to obtain more stable jobs and it increased their labor incomes. Affected husbands spent less time on child rearing and housework, and they were more likely to switch to a better-paid job.

Hacia la (re)privatización del cuidado infantil en México. Las modificaciones al Programa de Estancias Infantiles Sedesol

“…La mayoría de los estudios revisados coinciden en los efectos positivos de los programas de subsidios sobre el empleo femenino (Blau y Robins, 1998;Baker, Gruber y Milligan, 2008;Kosonen, 2013;Berlinski y Galiani, 2008;Berlinski, Galiani y McEwan, 2011;Paes de Barros, Olinto, Lunde y Carvalho, 2011;Calderón, 2014;Mateo Díaz y Rodríguez-Chamussy, 2017). La hipótesis que se deriva de estas investigaciones es que la expansión en la provisión de subsidios para el cuidado infantil puede incrementar el empleo de las madres, de niños pequeños, aunque sus efectos pueden ser diferentes.…”

“…Estudios de Género. 6, dossier Género y Trabajo, e480 e-ISSN 2395-9185 de Barros, Olinto, Lunde y Carvalho, 2011;Calderón, 2014). En cambio, cuando el subsidio se otorga en forma directa a los beneficiarios se promueve que éstos se queden en casa y se desincentiva la inserción laboral femenina (Kosonen, 2013;Naz, 2004y Schone, 2004 citados en Kosonen, 2013;Paes de Barros, Olinto, Lunde y Carvalho, 2011).…”

Building an Ex Ante Simulation Model for Estimating the Capacity Impact, Benefit Incidence, and Cost Effectiveness of Child Care Subsidies: An Application Using Provider-Level Data from Turkey

“…Child care centers were provided with one-time initial investment subsidies to open up new centers or to improve their existing facilities. Additionally, monthly grants were provided to day-care centers on a per capita per child basis Calderon, 2014 . The operational costs of these centers are covered by the public subsidy plus a fee collected from the parents Staab andGerhard, 2010 .…”

Understanding Demand for, and Feasibility of, Centre-based Child-care for Poor Urban Households: A Mixed Methods Study in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

“…The provision of quality centre-based child-care has the potential to counteract some of the negative in uences of poor urban neighbourhoods. There is evidence of social and economic bene ts of centre-based child-care on women's participation in the labour force in LMICs [11][12][13], with increases in parental employment, particularly of mothers, providing indirect bene ts to the child through increased household income and improved nutrition [14]. Few high quality studies of the impacts of centre-based care on children's health and development have been conducted in LMICs [2]; what limited evidence there is indicates improvements in cognitive [14] and socio-emotive development [15].…”