In Germany, around 94 percent of children between the ages of three and six attend a day care center. Regarding the remaining six percent, many experts have speculated that children, primarily those from socio-economically disadvantaged households, do not use day care. Based on data from the...

The economic and psychological literatures have demonstrated that early investments (private and public) in children can significantly increase cognitive outcomes in the short and long term and contribute to success later in life. One of the most important of these inputs is maternal time....

We document day care enrolment gaps by family background for children under 3 in Germany. Research demonstrates that children of less-educated or foreign-born parents benefit most from day care, making it important to understand the causes of such enrolment gaps. Using a unique data set that...

Despite substantial interest in preschool as a means of narrowing the achievement gap, little is known about how particular program attributes might influence the achievement gains of disadvantaged preschoolers. This paper uses survey data on a recent cohort to explore the mediating influence of...

Full-day kindergarten programs are expanding across North America, driven by a policy focus on early childhood development. These programs also affect parents' budget sets and may lead to changes in labour market outcomes. We exploit the unusual nature of Ontario's government school system to...

While recent studies mostly find that attending child care earlier improves the skills of children from low socio-economic and non-native backgrounds in the short-run, it remains unclear whether such positive effects persist. We identify the short- and medium-run effects of early child care...