Reducing Waiting Children with Daycare Search Map: Evidence from an RCT in Shibuya City

Abstract

We document the result of a randomized controlled experiment on a daycare center application system developed by the authors. The new application system, Daycare Search Map, allows users to easily obtain important information, such as travel distance, vacancies, facilities, and environment. Our RCT showed that the Search Map increases the length of the rank order list by approximately 37% compared to the control, enables parents to find daycare centers 39% closer, and improves the efficiency of information gathering and the willingness to enroll children in the chosen daycare. Furthermore, simulation analysis suggested that the number of children on waiting lists could be reduced by approximately 37\%. The result indicates that the reduction of information acquisition cost leads to the optimal rank order list of parents and improves social welfare.

Keywords: Matching, Daycare Center, Experiment, Randomized Control Trial, Information Intervention, Information Acquisition

JEL Classification: D83, I21, I28