IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v95y2019i308p1-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Childcare Use and Its Role in Indigenous Child Development: Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco Azpitarte
  • Abraham Chigavazira
  • Guyonne Kalb
  • Brad M. Farrant
  • Francisco Perales
  • Stephen R. Zubrick

Abstract

We investigate patterns of childcare use and its influence on the cognitive development of Indigenous children. The influence of childcare on Indigenous children's cognitive outcomes is less well understood than for non‐Indigenous children due to a lack of appropriate data. We focus on a cohort of Indigenous children in Australia who have been followed from infancy and for whom rich information on childcare use and cognitive outcomes is observed. Compared to Indigenous children who never participated in childcare, Indigenous children who participated in childcare performed better on several early cognitive outcomes. Using regression and propensity score matching, we show that this difference is driven by selection into childcare, with children from more advantaged families being more likely to attend formal childcare. However, matching analysis results suggest that relatively disadvantaged children might benefit more from attending childcare, as indicated by the positive estimated effects found for those who never attended childcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Azpitarte & Abraham Chigavazira & Guyonne Kalb & Brad M. Farrant & Francisco Perales & Stephen R. Zubrick, 2019. "Childcare Use and Its Role in Indigenous Child Development: Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 95(308), pages 1-33, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:95:y:2019:i:308:p:1-33
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-4932.12440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12440
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-4932.12440?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischer, Stefanie & Stoddard, Christiana, 2013. "The academic achievement of American Indians," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 135-152.
    2. Mario Fiorini & Michael P. Keane, 2014. "How the Allocation of Children's Time Affects Cognitive and Noncognitive Development," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(4), pages 787-836.
    3. Felfe, Christina & Lalive, Rafael, 2012. "Early Child Care and Child Development: For Whom it Works and Why," IZA Discussion Papers 7100, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Jens Ludwig & Douglas L. Miller, 2007. "Does Head Start Improve Children's Life Chances? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 159-208.
    5. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    6. Andrew Leigh & Xiaodong Gong, 2009. "Estimating cognitive gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 239-261.
    7. Bradbury, Bruce & Corak, Miles & Waldfogel, Jane & Washbrook, Elizabeth, 2011. "Inequality during the Early Years: Child Outcomes and Readiness to Learn in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States," IZA Discussion Papers 6120, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Francisco Perales & Bernard Baffour & Francis Mitrou, 2015. "Ethnic Differences in the Quality of the Interview Process and Implications for Survey Analysis: The Case of Indigenous Australians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Magnuson, Katherine A. & Ruhm, Christopher & Waldfogel, Jane, 2007. "Does prekindergarten improve school preparation and performance?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 33-51, February.
    10. Greg J. Duncan & Katherine Magnuson, 2013. "Investing in Preschool Programs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 109-132, Spring.
    11. Charles T. Clotfelter & Helen F. Ladd & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2009. "The Academic Achievement Gap in Grades 3 to 8," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 398-419, May.
    12. Steve Bradley & Mirko Draca & Colin Green & Gareth Leeves, 2007. "The magnitude of educational disadvantage of indigenous minority groups in Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(3), pages 547-569, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. van Huizen, Thomas & Plantenga, Janneke, 2018. "Do children benefit from universal early childhood education and care? A meta-analysis of evidence from natural experiments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 206-222.
    2. Hynsjö, Disa & Damon, Amy, 2016. "Bilingual education in Peru: Evidence on how Quechua-medium education affects indigenous children's academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 116-132.
    3. Brutti, Zelda & Montolio, Daniel, 2021. "Preventing criminal minds: Early education access and adult offending behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 97-126.
    4. Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2023. "Does Universal Preschool Hit the Target?: Program Access and Preschool Impacts," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(1), pages 1-42.
    5. María Jesús Mancebón Torrubia & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & Adriano Villar-Aldonza, 2018. "Evaluación del efecto de la escolarización temprana sobre las habilidades cognitivas y no cognitivas de los niños de cinco/seis años," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 226(3), pages 123-153, September.
    6. Strietholt, Rolf & Hogrebe, Nina & Zachrisson, Henrik Daae, 2020. "Do increases in national-level preschool enrollment increase student achievement? Evidence from international assessments," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Daniela Boca & Daniela Piazzalunga & Chiara Pronzato, 2018. "The role of grandparenting in early childcare and child outcomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 477-512, June.
    9. Apps, Patricia & Mendolia, Silvia & Walker, Ian, 2013. "The impact of pre-school on adolescents’ outcomes: Evidence from a recent English cohort," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 183-199.
    10. Berlinski, Samuel & Galiani, Sebastian & Gertler, Paul, 2009. "The effect of pre-primary education on primary school performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 219-234, February.
    11. Chloe Gibbs & Jens Ludwig & Douglas L. Miller, 2011. "Does Head Start Do Any Lasting Good?," NBER Working Papers 17452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Thérèse McDonnell, 2016. "Non-cognitive development in infancy: the influence of maternal employment and the mediating role of childcare," Working Papers 201606, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    13. Narea, Marigen, 2014. "Does early centre-based care have an impact on child cognitive and socio-emotional development? Evidence from Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103992, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Helen F. Ladd & Clara G. Muschkin & Kenneth A. Dodge, 2014. "From Birth to School: Early Childhood Initiatives and Third‐Grade Outcomes in North Carolina," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 162-187, January.
    15. Brinkman,Sally Anne & Hasan,Amer & Jung,Haeil & Kinnell,Angela & Nakajima,Nozomi & Pradhan,Menno Prasad, 2016. "The role of preschool quality in promoting child development : evidence from rural Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7529, The World Bank.
    16. Herbst, Chris M. & Tekin, Erdal, 2010. "Child care subsidies and child development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 618-638, August.
    17. Han, Wen-Jui & Lee, RaeHyuck & Waldfogel, Jane, 2012. "School readiness among children of immigrants in the US: Evidence from a large national birth cohort study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 771-782.
    18. Christina Felfe & Natalia Nollenberger & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2015. "Can’t buy mommy’s love? Universal childcare and children’s long-term cognitive development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 393-422, April.
    19. Martin Schlotter, 2011. "Age at Preschool Entrance and Noncognitive Skills before School - An Instrumental Variable Approach," ifo Working Paper Series 112, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    20. Lee, RaeHyuck & Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne & Han, Wen-Jui & Waldfogel, Jane & Zhai, Fuhua, 2014. "Is participation in Head Start associated with less maternal spanking for boys and girls?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 55-63.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:95:y:2019:i:308:p:1-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.