Thread by @chloergibbs

Glad to see Bloomberg @business covering our new paper on the impact of child care subsidy expansions -- very relevant to the policy debate happening as we speak! 1/n
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@business In paper, joint w/amazing team of #ECE #childcare researchers (@ChrisMHerbst @aaronsojourner @Erdal_Tekin_ @jonathanborows2 @Liz1515Liz @realMattWiswall), we model childcare subsidy policies closely resembling current proposals (BBB, Murray-Kaine) nber.org/papers/w30140 2/n

We look at many outcomes: ECE use by sector, family ECE expenses, moms' employment, ECE teacher wages, market prices & total costs. Impt to model equilibrium, rather than simple static framework (w/ no change in hrs or types of care), b/c behavioral responses are key here. 3/n

We consider 3 policy scenarios: (1) narrow subsidy expansions (akin to Murray-Kaine), (2) broad subsidy expansions as in BBB, & (3) broad subsidy expansions + wage floors for ECE teachers. @ChrisMHerbst has a great thread summarizing the work:

https://twitter.com/ChrisMHerbst/status/1536357150200500224?s=20&t=KmyLJJutXFKFQCBes-fMmw

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Some bottom line findings: yes, more moms work, particularly those from lower-income families (imptly, we impose a work requirement to qualify in alignment w/ the proposals' activity reqs). This is impt, & focus of the Bloomberg piece, but only part of the story. 5/n

Expanded subsidies increase ECE use, particularly among lower- and middle-income families, with big shifts into center-based care which is likely of higher quality on average than the settings from which they are moving. 6/n

Other impt result for quality: ⬆️wages for ECE workforce which brings in more teachers w/ bachelors degrees & likely has implications for stabilizing ECE teacher workforce. ⬇️turnover, ⬆️quality environments --> better child-caregiver relationships & better outcomes for kids. 7/n

We also document large reductions in families' ECE expenses across much of the income distribution, particularly under broad expansions. Facilitating parents' employment is *one* critical role for ECE in our country, made abundantly clear by pandemic disruptions, but... 8/n

childcare plays a dual role of supporting families *and* fostering children's development, generating better outcomes in short run & improved life chances in long run. We show that more kids would be in better care under childcare subsidy expansions, & that matters a lot. 9/9

ps We produced an executive summary of the paper, available on my website here: static1.squarespace.com/static/563b95a…
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