Determinants of Child Care Participation

21 Pages Posted: 4 Jan 2008 Last revised: 26 Aug 2008

See all articles by Katja Coneus

Katja Coneus

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Kathrin Göggel

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Grit Mühler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Date Written: 2007

Abstract

When estimating the determinants of child care participation, the simultaneity in mothers' decision to work and in the decision to use child care is a major challenge. In this study, we provide evidence on the determinants of institutional child care use accounting for the endogeneity of mothers' labor supply by applying an instrumental variables approach. This endogeneity has been neglected in studies on this issue so far, even though the decision to use child care outside the home is strongly connected to mothers' decision to work after childbirth and vice versa. Based on the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP) from 1989-2006 we show that children living in Western Germany have a higher probability to attend institutional care if their mothers increase their actual weekly working time. Estimating the determining factors of child care participation without correcting for simultaneity underestimates the influence of maternal working time by more than a half.

Keywords: child care choice, kindergarten attendance, maternal employment

JEL Classification: I21, J13, J22

Suggested Citation

Coneus, Katja and Göggel, Kathrin and Mühler, Grit, Determinants of Child Care Participation (2007). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 07-074, SOEPpaper, No. 72, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1080532 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1080532

Katja Coneus (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Kathrin Göggel

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Grit Mühler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

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