According to school entry regulations in most countries, the composition of school entrance cohorts is determined by a fixed cutoff date. This procedure creates inter-cohort differences in age and development which can severely influence educational trajectories. Developmental examinations at...

This paper contributes with evidence about the ex - post impact to the program of conditional cash transfer program Bono Juancito Pinto in public schools in Bolivia. In order to correctly identify the potential beneficiaries and avoid problems of endogeneity and selection bias, we evaluate the...

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...

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...

This paper studies the role of early center-based child care (age 0-3) for the development of a wide range of skills. The identification strategy uses historical variation in regional child care offer rates in Germany to address selection into center based care. While differences in parenting...

We investigate the short-term impact of out-of-home care on child health, schooling and juvenile crime. Using an event study to examine the dynamics around the time of placement, we document a clear deterioration of mental health and increasing crime rates before placement. After placement, we...

More children than ever attend center-based care early in life. We study whether children who attend center-based care before age 3 have better or worse language and motor skills, socio-emotional maturity, and school readiness just before entering primary school. In data covering about 36,000...

More children than ever attend center-based care early in life. We study whether children who attend center-based care before age 3 have better or worse language and motor skills, socio-emotional maturity, and school readiness just before entering primary school. In data covering about 36,000...

A currently high-ranking question on the political agenda of many developed countries relates to the intensive margin of child care and thus to the effects of prolonging the opening hours of child care institutions. This study adds to the scarce literature on this question and investigates the...

This paper uses child care reforms in Germany to investigate the effects of the legal and economic environment on publicly provided early child care quantity and quality. The analysis is based on administrative data covering all child care centers and family day carers in Germany and school...