The relevance of public child care provision has been an important issue in many countries for decades. Since many women with young children want to participate in the labor market, it is indispensable to have institutional provision for pre-school aged children. In order to increase public child care coverage in Germany, the state introduced a legal claim to a place in kindergarten, which became effective in 1996. The central goal of the legislation was the extension of public child care for preschool children, in order to increase female labor market participation. As reconciliation of family and working life has become a relevant political agenda in the past few years, there is a growing empirical interest to exploit the effect of subsidized public child care on maternal employment rates. However, the increasing empirical literature shows mixed results for this topic. The large part of the studies identifies clearly positive effects of public child care provision on mothers’ employment (Berlinski et al., 2011; Lefebvre/Merrigan, 2008; Schlosser, 2007). For some countries, however, the economists identify no causal relationship between subsidized child care provision and maternal labor market outcomes (Havnes/Mogstad, 2011).
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Background Information and Data
3. Methodology of the Study
3.1 Identification Strategy
3.2 Estimation Results
3.2.1 Instrumental Variable Approach
3.2.2 Difference-in-Differences Approach
4. Validity of the study
5. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Topics
This paper investigates the methodological approach used by Bauernschuster and Schlotter (2013) to evaluate the causal impact of the 1996 German legal claim to a kindergarten place on maternal labor market participation. The work aims to examine the validity of these empirical findings by analyzing the identification strategies and potential econometric threats to the study's conclusions.
- Analysis of the institutional background of the German pre-school system
- Evaluation of instrumental variable approaches in labor market research
- Application and validity of difference-in-differences techniques
- Assessment of potential bias and econometric limitations in causal inference
- Review of empirical results regarding maternal employment and child care provision
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 Identification Strategy
The main complication of the causality identification is the possibility of inconsistent parameter estimation due to existence of unobserved variables. A standard OLS regression model is defined as: y = ßx + ε, where x is an independent exogenous variable and y is a dependent endogenous variable. Special interest lies in the parameter ß, measuring the mean effect of x on y; ε is an error term, assumed to be independent and identically distributed. The main assumption for standard regression is that the regressor is not correlated with the error term. So, the variable x can affect the variable y only in a direct way via term ßx and there is no association between y and ε. However, in many situations this assumption is violated because of the association between regressor(s) and error term. As a consequence, there is both a direct effect on the dependent variable via ßx and an indirect effect via ε. Since the main objective of regression is the estimation of the direct effect on x, the OLS estimator is biased and inconsistent for ß, when there is an association between x and ε (Cameron, 2013, p. 35).
To overcome the limitations of the standard OLS model, the authors use an instrumental variable approach in their first identification strategy, in order to measure causal effects of pre-school education on mother's labor market participation. Caused by the date-of-birth cut-off rules, the special feature of the legal claim to a kindergarten place creates variation in pre-school attendance, which is exogenous to confounding factors determining both mothers' decision about child care and their labor market participation. The mere existence of cut-off rules provides the authors with a quasi-experimental setting and helps to get a good instrument for an instrumental variable approach. Instrumenting kindergarten attendance Di of a particular child i with the eligibility to child care Zi, they define child care attendance in a following model:
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the relevance of public child care in Germany and the research question regarding its effect on maternal labor market participation.
2. Background Information and Data: Describes the historical context of the German kindergarten system and the datasets (SOEP and Micro Census) utilized for the empirical analysis.
3. Methodology of the Study: Details the two primary econometric strategies—instrumental variable and difference-in-differences approaches—used to identify causal effects.
4. Validity of the study: Discusses econometric challenges, such as instrument exogeneity and relevance, and addresses potential biases in the models.
5. Conclusion: Summarizes the methodological review and suggests that while positive effects are observed, further research is needed to mitigate identified biases.
Keywords
Public Child Care, Kindergarten, Maternal Labor Market Participation, Instrumental Variable, Difference-in-Differences, Germany, Program Evaluation, Causal Inference, Quasi-Experiment, Econometrics, Child Care Provision, Labor Supply, Identification Strategy, Social Code VIII
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this publication?
The paper examines the methodological validity of studies that analyze the causal link between the introduction of the legal claim to a kindergarten place in Germany and the subsequent labor market participation of mothers.
Which primary themes are addressed in this work?
The main themes include public child care policy, maternal employment rates, quasi-experimental research designs, and econometric methodologies for causal inference.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine if the reported positive impact of subsidized child care on maternal employment is empirically sound by reviewing the identification strategies and potential biases within the original study.
Which scientific methods are applied by the authors?
The research relies on an instrumental variable approach and difference-in-differences techniques to exploit the variation created by birth-date cut-off rules for kindergarten eligibility.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body covers the institutional background of the German pre-school system, the data sources (SOEP and Micro Census), the formal definitions of the identification models, and a critical discussion of the results and validity.
Which keywords best describe this study?
Key terms include public child care, labor market participation, instrumental variables, quasi-experiments, and econometrics.
How does the birth-date cut-off rule function as an instrument?
The rule forces a non-random distribution of kindergarten eligibility based on age, which provides exogenous variation that the authors use to isolate the effect of kindergarten attendance from other socioeconomic factors.
What are the primary limitations identified by the author?
The author highlights risks such as the potential manipulation of birth dates by mothers to secure eligibility and the significant regional differences in child care provision between East and West Germany.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Dipl.-Ling. Olesya Kazantseva (Autor:in), 2014, The Legal Claim to a Place in Kindergarten. A Study of Methodological Approach in Public Child Care Provision, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/295760
