The Economics of Child Care
Over the past two decades, mothers of young children have entered the labor force in dramatically large numbers. This surge has focused increasing attention on child care, placing it high on the research and policy agenda. The Economics of Child Care is the first book to delineate the crucial economic aspects of an issue of growing concern for today’s families and policymakers.
The nine original essays included here represent state-of-the-art economic analysis and provide a distinctive and thorough assessment of many of the most pressing child care policy issues. To what extent should government subsidize and regulate child care? How has the cost of child care influenced women’s decisions to enter or leave the labor force? As the authors reveal, the relationship between the quality and cost of child care influences both the behavior of parents in the child care market and the supply of child care, and exposes the delicate balance between economic efficiency and psychological concerns about the adequacy of care. The contributors also explore the relationship between the cost of child care and participation by low income single mothers in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, as well as proposals designed to make the distribution of child care services more equitable.
A sound economic perspective on child care issues is fundamental if policymakers are to have a basis for well-informed decisions. In its nontechnical presentation, The Economics of Child Care brings basic economic principles and findings into wider currency among practitioners, policymakers, and other individuals concerned with the care of children.
"David Blau has chosen seven economists to write chapters that review the emerging economic literature on the supply of child care, parental demand for care, child care cost and quality, and to discuss the implications of these analyses for public policy. The book succeeds in presenting that research in understandable terms to policy makers and serves economists as a useful review of the child care literature....provides an excellent case study of the value of economic analysis of public policy issues." —Arleen Leibowitz, Journal of Economic Literature
"There is no doubt this is a timely book....The authors of this volume have succeeded in presenting the economic material in a nontechnical manner that makes this book an excellent introduction to the role of economics in public policy analysis, and specifically child care policy....the most comprehensive introduction currently available." —Cori Rattelman, Industrial and Labor Relations Review
DAVID M. BLAU is Norman Johnson Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and fellow of its Carolina Population Center.
