IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v563y1999i1p130-145.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Market Constraints on Child Care Quality

Author

Listed:
  • John R. Morris

    (University of Colorado at Denver)

Abstract

This article uses the data from Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers, The Study of Children in Family Child Care and Relative Care, and the Economics of Family Child Care Project to argue that most child care in the United States today is mediocre or worse and that this mediocrity is the result of supply and demand conditions in the market for child care. Imperfect knowledge on the part of suppliers and researchers about how to efficiently provide good care limits quality. More important, monopolistic competition with a broad range of modes of care, each with different cost structures, forces centers without subsidies to cut their costs in order to compete. Many parents cannot afford the cost of high-quality care, and even those who can afford it have trouble identifying it. Policy to improve quality needs to be multifaceted. Regulation, incentives, and training will help providers who either do not care about quality or do not understand how to create it. Subsidies are needed for parents who cannot afford the cost of quality care. Information and ratings of providers will help the parents who cannot identify quality or do not appreciate its importance.

Suggested Citation

  • John R. Morris, 1999. "Market Constraints on Child Care Quality," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 563(1), pages 130-145, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:563:y:1999:i:1:p:130-145
    DOI: 10.1177/000271629956300108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271629956300108
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/000271629956300108?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Blau, 1997. "The Production of Quality in Child Care Centers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 354-387.
    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. David Blau, 2003. "Child Care Subsidy Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 443-516, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Sarah Flood & Joel McMurry & Aaron Sojourner & Matthew Wiswall, 2022. "Inequality in Early Care Experienced by US Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 199-222, Spring.
    3. H. Naci Mocan & Deborah Viola, 1997. "The Determinants of Child Care Workers' Wages and Compensation: Sectoral Differences, Human Capital, Race, Insiders and Outsiders," NBER Working Papers 6328, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2011. "The Impact of Regulations on the Supply and Quality of Care in Child Care Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1775-1805, August.
    5. Yamauchi, Chikako & Leigh, Andrew, 2011. "Which children benefit from non-parental care?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1468-1490.
    6. Chikako Yamauchi, 2010. "The availability of child care centers, perceived search costs and parental life satisfaction," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 231-253, June.
    7. Debby Cryer, 1999. "Defining and Assessing Early Childhood Program Quality," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 563(1), pages 39-55, May.
    8. Gørtz, Mette & Johansen, Eva Rye & Simonsen, Marianne, 2018. "Academic achievement and the gender composition of preschool staff," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 241-258.
    9. Margaret R. Burchinal, 1999. "Child Care Experiences and Developmental Outcomes," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 563(1), pages 73-97, May.
    10. Emre Akgunduz & Egbert Jongen & Paul P.M. Leseman & Janneke Plantenga, 2015. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the relation between child care subsidies and child care quality," CPB Discussion Paper 310, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    11. 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.
    12. Lyn Craig, 2007. "How Employed Mothers in Australia Find Time for Both Market Work and Childcare," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 69-87, March.
    13. Blau, David & Currie, Janet, 2006. "Pre-School, Day Care, and After-School Care: Who's Minding the Kids?," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 20, pages 1163-1278, Elsevier.
    14. Katharina Spieß & Wolfgang Tietze, 2001. "Gütesiegel als neues Instrument der Qualitätssicherung von Humandienstleistungen: Gründe, Anforderungen und Umsetzungsüberlegungen am Beispiel von Kindertageseinrichtungen," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 243, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. H. Naci Mocan, 2001. "Can Consumers Detect Lemons? Information Asymmetry in the Market for Child Care," NBER Working Papers 8291, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Naci Mocan, 2007. "Can consumers detect lemons? An empirical analysis of information asymmetry in the market for child care," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(4), pages 743-780, October.
    17. Pierre Merrigan & Philip Lefebvre, 2002. "The Effect of Childcare and Early Education Arrangements on Developmental Outcomes of Young Children," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(2), pages 159-185, June.
    18. David M. Blau & H. Naci Mocan, 2002. "The Supply Of Quality In Child Care Centers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 483-496, August.
    19. Emre Akgunduz & Egbert Jongen & Paul P.M. Leseman & Janneke Plantenga, 2015. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the relation between child care subsidies and child care quality," CPB Discussion Paper 310.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Zierow, Larissa, 2017. "Regulating Child Care Markets. Center-based Care vs. Family Day-Care in Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168052, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    More about this item

    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:sae:anname:v:563:y:1999:i:1:p:130-145. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.