Evaluating the Effects of Childcare Policies on Children’s Cognitive Development and Maternal Labor Supply
联合估计认知成就生产函数和母亲劳动供给与儿童保育决策的动态离散选择模型，通过反事实分析考察Head Start和儿童保育补贴对儿童认知技能的影响，发现扩大Head Start对非合格者有显著正面影响，而补贴对合格者影响甚微。
To explore the role of childcare policies in the development of early cognitive skills, this paper jointly estimates a cognitive achievement production function and a dynamic, discrete choice model of maternal labor supply and childcare decisions. Using counterfactuals from the model, I investigate how the designs of two childcare programs, Head Start and childcare subsidies, affect the formation of cognitive skills through maternal work and childcare decisions. The results suggest large impacts on cognitive skills from expanding Head Start to current noneligibles and negligible impacts of subsidies on cognitive skills of current eligibles.