TY  - JOUR
AU  - Cascio,Elizabeth
TI  - Public Preschool and Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence from the Introduction of Kindergartens into American Public Schools
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12179
PY  - 2006
Y2  - May 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12179
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12179.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Elizabeth U. Cascio
Department of Economics
Dartmouth College
6106 Rockefeller Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
Tel: (603) 646-4096
Fax: (603) 646-2122
E-Mail: elizabeth.u.cascio@dartmouth.edu
AB  - Beginning in the mid-1960s, many state governments, particularly in the South and West, began to subsidize kindergartens for the first time.  These initiatives generated wide variation across states over time in the supply of seats for five year olds in public schools.  This paper uses the staggered timing and age-targeting of these preschool expansions to examine how the provision of universal child care through public schools affects maternal labor supply.  I find that single women with five year olds but no younger children were more likely to be employed once kindergartens were available.  The estimated effect is large, implying that three mothers entered the labor force for every ten children enrolled in public school.  By contrast, I detect no significant labor supply response among other single women with eligible children or among married mothers of five year olds. These findings complement other research suggesting that preschools targeted toward at-risk populations, such as children in single-parent families, are  more cost effective than universal programs.
ER  -