Early childhood education and care: effects after half a century and their mechanisms
利用日本1960-1980年代托育机构扩张的地区差异，发现早期儿童教育与照护对女性收入有持续至50岁的正向影响，其机制是通过提高教育程度提升工资，而非增加劳动供给。
Abstract The effects of early childhood education and care (ECEC) have been widely researched, but most studies focus on targeted or relatively short-term programmes. This paper investigates the long-term effects of a universal ECEC programme and underlying mechanisms. By exploiting differences in expansion rates of childcare institutions across Japan from the 1960s to the 1980s, I find a positive effect of ECEC on income at up to age 50. The overall effect is driven by a significant impact among women, who were disadvantaged at that time, while there are no adverse effects on others. Mediation analysis shows that an increase in wages leads to an increase in income, which is triggered by improved educational attainment and not an increase in labour supply. The results imply that a universal childcare system has the potential to reduce income inequality.