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Does Expanding Public Child Care Encourage Fertility? County-Level Evidence from Germany

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  • Stefan Bauernschuster
  • Timo Hener
  • Helmut Rainer

Abstract

Germany has the lowest birth rate among all OECD countries. To encourage fertility, the federal government has recently introduced a set of reforms that led to a substantial expansion of public child care for under three year old children. Using administrative county-level data, we exploit within-county variation in this expansion and find evidence that the provision of public child care causes an increase in birth rates. Extended empirical specifications suggest that our results are neither confounded by selective migration nor driven by tempo effects. Our analysis therefore provides some first evidence that low fertility may be reversed through changes in public policy that allow women to combine employment and motherhood.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2013. "Does Expanding Public Child Care Encourage Fertility? County-Level Evidence from Germany," ifo Working Paper Series 158, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifowps:_158
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    Cited by:

    1. Miriam Maeder, 2014. "Earnings-related parental leave benefits and subjective well-being of young mothers: evidence from a German parental leave reform," Working Papers 148, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    2. Holger Bonin & Anita Fichtl & Helmut Rainer & C. Katharina Spieß & Holger Stichnoth & Katharina Wrohlich, 2013. "Zentrale Resultate der Gesamtevaluation familienbezogener Leistungen," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 80(40), pages 3-13.
    3. Levin,Victoria & Besedina,Elena & Aritomi,Tami, 2016. "Going beyond the first child : analysis of Russian mothers'desired and actual fertility Patterns," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7643, The World Bank.
    4. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2014. "Familienpolitik in ausgewählten europäischen Ländern im Vergleich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 50840, March.
    5. World Bank, 2015. "Searching for a New Silver Age in Russia," World Bank Publications - Reports 22611, The World Bank Group.
    6. Annette Bergemann & Regina T. Riphahn, 2023. "Maternal employment effects of paid parental leave," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 139-178, January.
    7. Hong, Kai & Dragan, Kacie & Glied, Sherry, 2019. "Seeing and hearing: The impacts of New York City’s universal pre-kindergarten program on the health of low-income children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 93-107.
    8. Holger Bonin & Anita Fichtl & Helmut Rainer & C. Katharina Spieß & Holger Stichnoth & Katharina Wrohlich & Anita Dietrich, 2013. "Lehren für die Familienpolitik – Zentrale Resultate der Gesamtevaluation familienbezogener Leistungen," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 66(18), pages 22-30, October.
    9. Valeriy Elizarov & Victoria Levin, 2015. "Family Policies in Russia," World Bank Publications - Reports 22614, The World Bank Group.

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    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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