Investing in subsidized childcare to reduce poverty
Authors
Tine Hufkens, Francesco Figari, Dieter Vandelannoote, Gerlinde Verbist
Publication Date
Aug 2019
Summary
Expanding childcare is often considered as a suitable way to enhance employment opportunities for mothers with young children as well as to reduce child poverty. In this study, the authors critically investigate this assertion by simulating a set of scenarios of increasing subsidized childcare slots and mothers’ employment. For a variety of European welfare states, the impact on poverty and on the government’s budget is estimated using the European microsimulation model EUROMOD. The findings suggest that to achieve significant poverty reductions among young children, both additional childcare slots and increased mothers’ employment should be well targeted. The expenditures for additional childcare slots can to a large extent be recovered by the government receipts generated by the additional employment; however, there appears to be a trade-off between the extra revenue that can be generated and the extent of poverty reduction.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928719868448
Publication type
Journal Article
Research areas
Family and gender, Tax and benefit systems
Links
University of Essex, Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to University of Essex registered users* - https://lib.essex.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1656027?lang=eng
Notes
Online Early
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