Does early child care attendance influence children's cognitive and non-cognitive skill development?

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 attendance in Germany using a fuzzy discontinuity in child care starting age between December and January. This discontinuity arises as children typically start formal child care in the summer of the calendar year in which they turn three. Combining rich survey and administrative data, we follow one cohort from age five to 15 and examine standardised cognitive test scores, non-cognitive skill measures, and school track choice. We find no evidence that starting child care earlier affects children's outcomes in the shortor medium-run. Our precise estimates rule out large effects for children whose parents have a strong preference for sending them to early child care.Dieser Beitrag untersucht anhand detaillierter Befragungsdaten und administrativer Daten die mittelfristigen Auswirkungen eines früheren Kindergartenbesuchs auf kognitive und nicht-kognitive Fähigkeiten von Kindern in Deutschland. Um den kausalen Effekt zu identifizieren, nutzen wir eine Diskontinuität im durchschnittlichen Alter bei Kindergartenbeginn zwischen Kindern, die vor und nach dem Jahreswechsel geboren sind. Wir finden weder Belege, dass sich ein früherer Kindergartenbesuch auf kognitive Fähigkeiten, nicht-kognitive Fähigkeiten oder den besuchten Schultyp im Alter von etwa 15 Jahren auswirkt, noch zeigen sich kurzfristige Effekte im Alter von etwa fünf Jahren. Die präzisen Schätzungen schließen starke Effekte aus. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Fähigkeiten von Kindern, deren Eltern starke Präferenzen für einen frühen Kindergartenbesuch haben, nicht von einem tatsächlichen, frühen Kindergartenbesuch beeinflusst werden

The effects of smoking bans on self-assessed health: Evidence from Germany

The 16 German federal states introduced smoking bans on different dates during 2007 and 2008. These bans restricted smoking in enclosed public places, particularly in restaurants and bars. This study examines the effects of smoking bans on self-assessed health. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), difference-in-differences estimations provide evidence for health improvements for the population at large. Health benefits from the secondhand smokefree environment are equivalent to an increase in household income of approximately 30%. Further subgroup analyses show that health improvements are largest among young non-smokers (below 30 years) whereas smokers report no or even adverse health effects in response to bans. Exploiting differences in the dates of introduction and enforcement, we find no evidence that the effects of bans depend on enforcement measures

Does early child care attendance influence children's cognitive and non-cognitive skill development?

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 attendance in Germany using a fuzzy discontinuity in child care starting age between December and January. This discontinuity arises as children typically start formal child care in the summer of the calendar year in which they turn three. Combining rich German survey and administrative data, we follow one cohort from age five to 15 and examine standardised cognitive test scores, non-cognitive skill measures, and school track choice. We find no evidence that starting child care earlier affects children's outcomes in the short- or medium-run. Our precise estimates rule out large effects for children whose parents have a strong preference for sending them to early child care

Meeting the challenge? Transitions out of long-term homelessness

Journey to Social Inclusion (J2SI) is a pilot project designed to break the cycle of long-term homelessness. The project provides intensive support for up to three years to assist people who are long-term homeless receive the range of services they need. This is the second of four reports evaluating the J2SI project. It documents the social outcomes and the economic costs and benefits from the first 24 months. The evaluation uses a randomised controlled trial that tracks the outcomes of J2SI participants (Group J) and compares their outcomes with those of a comparison group (Group E) who are being supported by existing services. After 24 months the evidence shows a sustained improvement in the housing circumstances of the J2SI participants compared to those in the control group. Critically, most (86%) have maintained their housing. While the move to independent housing was difficult in the beginning, the high rate of housing retention suggests that most of the participants are developing the skills and confidence needed to keep their housing. The report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis of the program after 2 years of operation. The evaluation was conducted by researchers from RMIT University and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. Authors: Guy Johnson, Daniel Kuehnle, Sharon Parkinson, Yi-Ping Tseng

Sustaining exits from long-term homelessness

Executive Summary: Journey to Social Inclusion was a three year pilot that provided intensive support designed to break the cycle of long-term homelessness. This report presents the social and economic outcomes of the J2SI pilot. It covers the three years the trial ran, and the 12 month period following the completion of the trial. The evaluation used a randomised controlled trial to track and compare the outcomes of the J2SI participants (Group J) with those of an equivalent group of long-term homeless people (Group E) who were supported by existing services. After 48 months 67% of the original participants remained involved in the trial. The evidence suggests that J2SI had a positive impact on the lives of most participants, over time and relative to the control group. The physical health of Group J improved, with the proportion reporting no bodily pain increasing from 27% to 45% over the four year period. In other measures of bodily pain Group J also report larger gains over time and relative to Group E. Although there is some variation in the use of health services with both groups showing greater improvements in some areas relative to the other group, the most important pattern to note is that Group J’s average use of emergency hospital services and their average number of days hospitalised in general hospitals and psychiatric units declined by about 80% over the 48 month period. Group E’s need for emergency hospital treatment increased by 21%. While the average number of days Group E spent in hospital declined by about one third, the reduction is considerably less than observed in Group J. These results represent a substantial health care impact and suggest that an intervention comprising of stable housing and intensive case management can reduce the public burden associated with the over-utilisation of health services. The report also shows improvements over time and relative to Group E in the use of welfare and homelessness services, and the amount of time incarcerated. In the absence of the J2SI Program, Group J’s use of welfare service has started to rise. Finally, there was only a modest improvement in the extent to which the participants’ felt connected to and supported by the community over the four years. However, the trend was always in a positive direction, and in the final survey J2SI participants recorded their highest scores on both social support and social acceptance indexes. There are signs, however that the impact of J2SI is declining in some areas. After three years 85% of J2SI participants were housed compared to 41% of those who were receiving existing services. In the 12 months following its closure the proportion of J2SI participants who were housed dropped by 10 percentage points to 75%. Although this was substantially higher than at baseline, compares favourably with international studies, and is still 17 percentage points higher than that reported by the control group (58%), it was the first ‘substantial’ decline we have observed over the four year period. Similarly, while the emotional health of the J2SI participants improved and they report lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression after four years compared to where they were at the start of the trial, the results are not much different to those reported by Group E. Similarly, although there had been substantial gains in the labour force participation rate during the trial, these gains were not sustained when J2SI closed. Throughout the trial we found little change in the substance use behaviour of the participants, although this is a common finding in studies evaluating service impacts among the long-term homeless. Finally, we found the short-term economic benefit to be modest but trending upwards, with a return of 0.25 for every dollar invested. Taking into account lives saved over a 10 year time frame the economic benefit was more substantial, with a $1.32 return for every dollar invested. J2SI shows that breaking the cycle of long-term homelessness is possible and that intensive support coupled with stable housing can reduce demand on expensive health, justice and welfare services. However, some of the successes and improvements were not sustained and some individuals subsequently became homeless once J2SI support ended. About one quarter of the participants would have benefitted from ongoing support. The agencies they had been referred to after J2SI ended failed to provide the level and breadth of support necessary for ongoing stability. This presents two challenges for policy makers. First, many services, particularly clinical health services, are configured in such a way as to exclude the long-term homeless for the very issues they seek assistance with. Second, policy makers need to explicitly acknowledge that a small minority of homeless people require ongoing and indefinite support. Among those who had succeeded in maintaining their housing some had made a successful journey out of homelessness and were continuing to move on with their lives. Equally, it was clear that having a home did not lead to social acceptance and social inclusion for everyone. With limited employment options, few social networks outside of the homeless population, and few alternative social activities, opportunities for social inclusion remain limited for many individuals whose experience of social exclusion is both wide and deep. In this context programs designed to permanently end long-term homelessness such as J2SI need to temper their expectations and accept that years immersed in homelessness not only have physical and emotional effects, but long-term social and economic effects as well. Further, despite sharing many similar characteristics and experiences the long-term homeless are a heterogeneous group. Recognising similarities and differences among the long-term homeless is important in terms of designing appropriate interventions – whereas some participants would benefit from ongoing support, for others the support requirements were less. Much has been learnt from the J2SI pilot – what works, what doesn’t, for whom and why. The key now is to translate these findings into a more balanced policy framework that is sensitive to the challenges and complexities of permanently ending long-term homelessness

Paid parental leave and child development: Evidence from the 2007 German parental benefit reform and administrative data

This paper examines the effects of a substantial change in publicly funded paid parental leave in Germany on child development and socio-economic development gaps. For children born before January 1, 2007, parental leave benefits were means-tested and paid for up to 24 months after childbirth. For children born thereafter, parental leave benefits were earnings-related and only paid for up to 14 months. Higher-income households benefited more from the reform than low-income households. We study the reform effects on children's language skills, motor skills, socio-emotional stability, and school readiness using administrative data from mandatory school entrance examinations at age six and a difference-in-differences design. We find no impact of the reform on child development and socio-economic development gaps. The effects are precisely estimated and robust to various model specifications and sample definitions. Our resultssuggest that such substantial changes in parental leave benefits are unlikely to impact children's development. These findings are consistent with recent studies showing that temporary unrestricted transfers and maternal part-time employment have a limited impact on parental investments in their children

Parental leave, worker substitutability, and firms' employment

Motherhood and parental leave are frequent causes of worker absences and employment interruptions, yet we know little about their effects on firms. Based on linked employer-employee data from Germany, we examine how parental leave absences affect small- and medium-sized firms. We show that they anticipate the absence with replacement hirings in the six months before childbirth. A 2007 parental leave reform extending leave absences reduces firm-level employment and total wages in the first year after childbirth, driven by firms with few internal substitutes for the absent mother. However, we do not find longer-term effects on firms' employment, wage-bill, or likelihood to shut down. We find that the reform increases replacement hirings, but firms directly affected do not respond to longer expected absences of mothers by subsequently hiring fewer young women. Overall, our findings show that extended parental leave does not have a lasting impact on firms when these can anticipate the absences

The effect of paid parental leave on child health in Australia

Providing mothers with access to paid parental leave may be an important public policy to improve child and maternal health. Using extensive information from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Children (LSAC), we contribute to the literature by estimating the effect of paid parental leave entitlements on child health up to age seven. Exploiting detailed information on children's health, family background, mothers' pre-birth work histories and mothers' health behaviours during pregnancy within a propensity score matching framework, we show that paid parental leave entitlements reduce the probability of a child having multiple ongoing health conditions, but do not significantly affect any single condition. We find that the effect on multiple conditions is strongest for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Our study implies that the provision of paid parental leave, even for short periods (as usually available in Australia), will benefit children's health

The Causal Effect of Family Income on Child Health: A Re-Examination Using an Instrumental Variables Approach

Despite a recent growth in studies examining the association between family income and child health, very few studies investigate whether this is a causal relationship. This paper addresses this major methodological gap and examines the causal effect of family income on child health in the UK. Using rich observational data from a British cohort study, we exploit exogenous variation in local labour market characteristics to instrument for family income. We estimate the effect of family income on subjective child health and control for potential transmission channels through which income could affect child health. The results from our models provide novel evidence that income has a small but significant causal effect on subjective child health. Moreover, the analysis shows that parental health does not drive a spurious relationship between family income and child health as argued in recent contributions. We do not find significant effects of family income on chronic indicators of child health. The results are robust to different sets of instrumental variables, and to alternative measures of income