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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 106 No. 1 1998

The Demand for Quality in Child Care

David M. Blau1; Alison P. Hagy2

1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · 2 United States Census Bureau

Abstract

We estimate a model of demand for quality‐related attributes of child care: group size, staff/child ratio, and provider training. The model is estimated jointly with equations for mode, expenditure on and hours of care, and the mother's labor supply. The results show that a lower price of child care in a particular mode leads to substitution toward that mode and an increase in the use of paid child care. A decrease in the price of care causes an increase in hours of care demanded and a decrease in the demand for qualityrelated attributes. Income effects on demand for quality are small.

DOI
10.1086/250004
Volume
106
Issue
1
Pages
104-146
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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