Preschool and Maternal Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

44 Pages Posted: 18 Jun 2009

See all articles by Samuel Berlinski

Samuel Berlinski

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - Research Department

Sebastian Galiani

University of Maryland - Department of Economics

Patrick J. McEwan

Wellesley College, Department of Economics

Date Written: June 17, 2009

Abstract

In developing countries, employment rates for mothers with young children are relatively low. This paper analyzes how maternal labor market outcomes in Argentina are affected by the preschool attendance of their children. Using pooled household surveys, we show that four year olds with birthdays on June 30 have sharply higher probabilities of preschool attendance than children born on July 1, given enrollment-age rules. Regression-discontinuity estimates using this variation suggest that preschool attendance of the youngest child in the household increases the probability of full-time employment and weekly hours of maternal employment. We find no effect of preschool attendance on maternal labor outcomes for children that are not the youngest in the household.

Keywords: female labor supply, Argentina, regression-discontinuity, kindergarten

JEL Classification: I21, I28, J22

Suggested Citation

Berlinski, Samuel and Galiani, Sebastian and McEwan, Patrick J., Preschool and Maternal Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design (June 17, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1421498 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1421498

Samuel Berlinski

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - Research Department ( email )

1300 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

Sebastian Galiani (Contact Author)

University of Maryland - Department of Economics ( email )

College Park, MD 20742
United States

Patrick J. McEwan

Wellesley College, Department of Economics ( email )

106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.patrickmcewan.net

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