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Female labour supply and childcare in Italy

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Abstract

It is widely recognized that childcare has important pedagogical, economic and social effects on both children and parents. This paper is the first attempt to estimate a joint structural model of female labour supply and childcare behavior applied to Italy in order to analyse the effects of relaxing the existing constraints in terms of childcare availability and costs by considering public, private and informal childcare. Results suggest that Italian households might alter their childcare and labour supply behaviors substantially if the coverage rate of formal childcare increases to reach the European targets. Overall, increasing child care coverage is estimated to be more effective in enhancing labor incentives than decreasing existing child care costs, at the same budgetary cost.

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  • Edlira Narazani & Francesco Figari, 2017. "Female labour supply and childcare in Italy," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2017-02, Joint Research Centre.
  • Handle: RePEc:ipt:taxref:201702
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    2. Barbara Plagg & Heidi Flarer & Andreas Conca & Christian J. Wiedermann & Adolf Engl & Giuliano Piccoliori & Sigrid Mairhofer & Verena Barbieri & Klaus Eisendle, 2021. "Who Is Watching the Children? A Quantitative Analysis of Strategies for Reconciling Work and Parenting during Lockdown in Northern Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, October.
    3. Dalila De Rosa & Gloria Di Caprera & Francesco Figari & Carlo Fiorio & Pasquale Giacobbe & Marco Manzo & Elena Miola & Giorgio Mongelli & Chiara Subrizi, 2023. "L’Assegno Unico e Universale e la revisione dell’IRPEF nel 2022: un’analisi di equità ed efficienza per famiglie di lavoratori dipendenti," Working Papers wp2023-19, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    childcare; female labour supply; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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