申请障碍与儿童照护入托的社会经济差距
Application Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment
Journal of the European Economic Association · 2024 · [{"name": "Henning Hermes", "affiliation": ["Ifo Institute for Economic Research"]}, {"name": "Philipp Lergetporer", "affiliation": ["Technical University of Munich"]}, {"name": "Frauke Peter", "affiliation": ["German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies"]}, {"name": "Simon Wiederhold", "affiliation": ["Halle Institute for Economic Research"]}]
中文摘要
为什么社会经济地位（SES）较低的儿童被送入儿童照护机构的可能性显著更低？我们研究申请过程中的障碍是否不利于社会经济地位较低的儿童——这一群体已知是从儿童照护入托中受益最大的群体。在德国一项针对高度补贴儿童照护机构的随机对照试验（N=607）中，我们为处理组家庭提供申请信息和个人协助。我们发现，该处理产生了显著且促进公平的效应，使儿童照护入托中巨大的社会经济地位差距缩小了一半。较低社会经济地位家庭入托率的提高，可能是由申请知识和行为的改变所驱动的。我们讨论了该干预措施的可扩展性，并推导出关于普惠性儿童照护项目设计的政策含义。（JEL: I21, J13, J18, J24, C93）
Abstract
Abstract Why are children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) substantially less likely to be enrolled in child care? We study whether barriers in the application process work against lower-SES children—the group known to benefit strongest from child care enrollment. In an RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care ($N=607$), we offer treated families information and personal assistance for applications. We find substantial, equity-enhancing effects of the treatment, closing half of the large SES gap in child care enrollment. Increased enrollment for lower-SES families is likely driven by altered application knowledge and behavior. We discuss scalability of our intervention and derive policy implications for the design of universal child care programs. (JEL: I21, J13, J18, J24, C93)