| By: |
Attanasio, Orazio (Yale University);
de Barros, Ricardo Paes (Insper, São Paulo);
Carneiro, Pedro (University College London);
Evans, David K. (Center for Global Development);
Lima, Lycia (Sao Paulo School of Economics);
Olinto, Pedro (World Bank);
Schady, Norbert (World Bank) |
| Abstract: |
This study examines the impact of publicly provided daycare for children aged
0-3 on outcomes of children and their caregivers over the course of seven
years after enrollment into daycare. At the end of 2007, the city of Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil used a lottery to assign children to limited public daycare
openings. Winning the lottery translated to a 34 percent increase in time in
daycare during a child's first four years of life. This allowed caregivers
more time to work, resulting in higher incomes for beneciary households in the
first year of daycare attendance and 4 years later (but not after 7 years, by
which time all children were eligible for universal schooling). The rise in
labor force participation is driven primarily by grandparents and by
adolescent siblings residing in the same household as (and possibly caring
for) the child, and not by parents, most of whom were already working.
Beneciary children saw sustained gains in height-for-age and weight-for-age,
due to better nutritional intake at school and at home. Gains in beneciary
children's cognitive development were observed 4 years after enrolment but not
later. |
| Keywords: |
early child development, childcare, Brazil |
| JEL: |
I21 I28 J22 O15 |
| Date: |
2022–11 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15705&r=lam |