Cost-Optimal Scale of Child Care Institutions

In this paper we explore the scale properties in the operation of child care institutions. The main issue is whether or not there exists a technically optimal scale of operation. Our results, based on a homothetic production function model and data from a sample of Norwegian child care institutions, suggest that a technically optimal scale does exist. This confirms some of the results recently obtained for US child care institutions. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998