Child Development and Cognitive Outcomes: The Role of Public and Family Inputs (original) (raw)

Ringrazio i miei genitori su cui ho potuto contare in ogni momento di questo lungo viaggio. Mi hanno accompagnato in ogni città in cui sono stata, da Milano a Roma a Torino fino a New York! Edè grazie a loro che mi sono potuta sentire sempre a casa. Un pensiero speciale va a mia sorella, che porto sempre con me, e che ringrazio anche per il suo supporto tecnologico! "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." "What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." "It is the time I have wasted for my rose-" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember. "Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..." "I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupèry, The Little Prince, Chapter XXI. Dedico questa tesi a Marco per essermi stato vicino in questi anni e per avermi insegnato cosa significhi compiere insieme ogni passo. Grazie per aver scelto di curare con me la nostra rosa. Contents List of Tables iii List of Figures v Co-authorship disclaimer vii Preface Chapter 1. Public and parental investments on children. Evidence from the literature on non-parental child care 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Theoretical background 1.3. Empirical issues for the estimation of child care impacts 1.4. Review of selected studies evaluating child care impacts 1.5. Conclusions Appendix 1.A. Functional form assumptions and substitutability patterns Chapter 2. Exploring the impacts of public child care on mothers and children in Italy: does rationing play a role? 2.1. Introduction 2.2. The Literature 2.3. Child care in Italy 2.4. Theoretical Framework 2.5. Empirical strategy 2.6. Data and Variables 2.7. Results 2.8. Robustness checks 2.9. Non-linearity in child care impacts 2.10. Conclusions Appendix 2.A. Institutional and historical background: the child care policy in Italy Appendix 2.B. The INVALSI data Appendix 2.C. Analysis on missing values Chapter 3. Mother or market care? A structural estimation of child care impacts on child development 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Background 3.3. The model 3.4. Econometric strategy i 3.5. Data 3.6. Results 3.7. Counterfactual exercises 3.8. Concluding remarks Appendix 3.A. Analytic solution of the model Appendix 3.B. Empirical analysis and estimation Appendix 3.C. PSID-CDS dataList of Tables 1.1. Early childhood cognitive outcomes. Description. 1.2. Early childhood cognitive outcomes. Results. 1.3. Early childhood noncognitive outcomes. Description. List of Figures 1.1. Formal child care enrollment in selected countries, 2008. 1.2. Non-parental child care inputs for child's development. 2.1. Child care coverage across Italian regions, 2005. 2.2. Correlation between mother's working status and child care coverage. 2.3. Correlation between Language and Math scores and child care coverage. 2.4. Non-linear relationship between child care coverage and the outcomes. 2.A.1. Slots in formal child care across Italian regions, 2010. 2.A.2. Slots in additional services across Italian regions, 2010. 3.1. Non-parental child care time by mother's employment status. 3.2. Maternal child care time and leisure by mother's employment status. 3.3. LW raw score by child's age. 3.4. Mother's choices by child's age. 3.5. Preference parameters for leisure. 3.6. Preference parameters for consumption. 3.7. Preference parameters for child's ability. 3.8. Maternal time and non-parental child care productivity. 3.9. Income and previous period child's ability productivity. 3.10. Goodness of fit for child's test score measure by child's age. 3.11. Productivity parameters with leisure-minimizing preferences. 3.E.1. Productivity parameters setting T = 12. 3.E.2. Productivity parameters if maternal time is only active time with the mother. 3.E.3. Productivity parameters if maternal time includes also time with the father around. 3.E.4. Productivity parameters allowing income to affect wages. 3.E.5. Productivity parameters with a different specification for child's initial endowment. v 5 6 CHAPTER 1 Public and parental investments on children. Evidence from the literature on non-parental child care ABSTRACT-This chapter summarizes the most recent empirical research on parental and social investments in children, with a focus on policies providing non-parental child care. The empirical findings are conceptualized in a simple theoretical framework showing how parents' decisions and policy intervention interact in contributing to child's development. The results from these studies are presented taking into account the institutional context where the policy has been implemented and the timing of the intervention. The majority of large-scale policies providing non-parental child care have positive effects on children's cognitive outcomes, both in the short and in the medium run. Early childhood policies can have long-lasting effects on adult outcomes, also boosting the development of noncognitive skills, that are used and rewarded in labor market and social life.