daycare-systematic-review-preprint

Background: Research from high-income countries suggests that increasing the availability of daycare can improve economic outcomes for mothers, but similar research from low- and middle-income countries is lacking. Methods: We systematically searched databases of published and unpublished literature for studies that measured the impact of daycare provision on social, economic, and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries without language or publication date restrictions. We synthesized the evidence using both narrative review and random effects meta-analysis. Results: We found 2073 studies and included 13 after applying our exclusion criteria. For a 30 percentage point increase in daycare utilization we estimate that maternal employment increased by 6 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 4 to 8), but we found considerable between-study heterogeneity and evidence of effect measure modification within studies. The impact on maternal earnings was mixed, and few studies assessed the impact of daycare on non-economic outcomes. Conclusions: We found moderate but heterogeneous evidence that interventions to increase access to formal daycare increase maternal labor force participation. Future studies would benefit from assessing the impact of daycare on non-economic outcomes and understanding the heterogeneity between studies.