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The Supply of Quality in Child Care Centers

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Author Info
David M. Blau
H. Naci Mocan

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Abstract

We use data from a sample of day care centers to estimate the relationships between cost and the quality of the child care service provided, and between revenue and quality. We use a measure of child care quality derived from an instrument designed by developmental psychologists. This measure of quality has been found to be positively associated with child development. Taking the estimated cost-quality and revenue-quality relationships as given, we then estimate the objective functions of the firms and compute the supply function for quality. The results indicate that (1) the estimated cost function is inconsistent with the implications of cost-minimization; (2) for-profit firms operate at a positive level of marginal cost, but non-profit firms operate at zero or negative marginal cost; (3) revenue is positively but weakly associated with quality; and (4) the supply of quality is inelastic, with point estimates of the supply elasticity of .04-.05 for both for-profit and non-profit firms. Implications of the results for child care policy are discussed.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7225.

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Date of creation: Jul 1999
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7225

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  13. David M. Blau & Alison P. Hagy, 1998. "The Demand for Quality in Child Care," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 104-146, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson, 1998. "Nonprofit Production and Competition," NBER Working Papers 6377, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. H. Naci Mocan, 1995. "Quality Adjusted Cost Functions for Child Care Centers," NBER Working Papers 5040, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Henry Hansmann, 1996. "The Changing Roles of Public, Private, and Nonprofit Enterprise in Education, Health Care, and Other Human Services," NBER Chapters, in: Individual and Social Responsibility: Child Care, Education, Medical Care, and Long-Term Care in America, pages 245-276 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Paul A. Grout & Michelle J. Yong, 2003. "The Role of Donated Labour and Not for Profit at the Public/Private Interface," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 03/074, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  2. Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2000. "The Effect of Childcare and Early Education Arrangements on Developmental Outcomes of Young Children," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 119, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. H. Naci Mocan & Erdal Tekin, 2000. "Nonprofit Sector and Part-Time Work: An Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data of Child Care Workers," NBER Working Papers 7977, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. David M. Blau, 2000. "Child Care Subsidy Programs," NBER Working Papers 7806, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2005. "The Impact of Minimum Quality Standards on Firm Entry, Exit and Product Quality: The Case of the Child Care Market," Working Papers 05-28, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
  6. Denise Doiron & Guyonne Kalb, 2004. "Demands for Childcare and Household Labour Supply in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n06, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. H. Naci Mocan & Erdal Tekin & Jeffrey S. Zax, 2000. "The Demand for Medical Care in Urban China," NBER Working Papers 7673, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Pierre Koning & Joëlle Noailly & Sabine Visser, 2007. "Do Not-For-Profits Make a Difference in Social Services? A Survey Study," De Economist, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 251-270, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Heinrich Hock & Delia Furtado, 2009. "Female Work and Fertility in the United States: Effects of Low-Skilled Immigrant Labor," Working papers 2009-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2005. "The Impact of Minimum Quality Standards on Firm Entry, Exit and Product Quality: the Case of the Child Care Market," NBER Working Papers 11873, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Naci Mocan, 2007. "Can consumers detect lemons? An empirical analysis of information asymmetry in the market for child care," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 743-780, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Pierre Koning & Joëlle Noailly & Sabine Visser, 2007. "Do non-profits make a difference?," CPB Documents 142, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  13. Joëlle Noailly & Sabine Visser & Paul Grout, 2007. "The impact of market forces on the provision of childcare: Insights from the 2005 Childcare Act in the Netherlands," CPB Memoranda 176, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  14. Guyonne Kalb, 2007. "Children, Labour Supply and Childcare: Challenges for Empirical Analysis," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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