Investing in subsidized childcare to reduce child poverty: an adequate strategy?
Authors
Tine Hufkens, Francesco Figari, Dieter Vandelannoote, Gerlinde Verbist
Publication Date
Mar 2019
Summary
Expanding childcare is often considered as a suitable way to enhance employment opportunities of 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 we estimate the impact on poverty and on the government budget 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.
Publication type
Research Paper
Series Number
06/2019
Research areas
Family and gender, Tax and benefit systems
Links
https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipt/taxref/201906.html
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