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Preventing Child Maltreatment: Beneficial Side Effects of Public Childcare

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  • Malte Sandner
  • Stephan L Thomsen
  • Libertad González

Abstract

We investigate the impact of public childcare provision on the incidence of severe child maltreatment. For identification, we exploit a reform that expanded early childcare in Germany, generating large temporal and spatial variation in childcare coverage at the county level. Using high-quality administrative data covering all reported cases of child maltreatment in Germany by county and year, we find that an increase in childcare slots by one percentage point in a county reduced child maltreatment cases leading to out-of-home placement by about 1%. Our results suggest that the provision of universal public childcare may be more cost effective than previously thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Malte Sandner & Stephan L Thomsen & Libertad González, 2025. "Preventing Child Maltreatment: Beneficial Side Effects of Public Childcare," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(665), pages 321-353.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:135:y:2025:i:665:p:321-353.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueae070
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