WORK IN PROGRESS

The Impact of COVID-Era Grant Programs on Childcare Supply

Childcare providers faced financial crises during COVID due to reduced attendance and supernormal operating costs. Many states' provided substantial grant programs to sustain the childcare industry through this period. This research examines child care centers' participation in the grants programs and provides causal effects of the grants programs on provider survival through the pandemic era. 

The Impact of the Child and Adult Care Food Program on the Daycare Home Sector 

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) subsidizes food provided in childcare. It is an important source of financial support for daycare home providers (small entrepreneurs caring for children in their own homes). Daycare home providers remain an important segment of the child care market, especially for lower-income families, because of their lower prices and more flexible care schedules than centers. This research investigates the impacts of a large, exogenous increase in CACFP support on daycare home survival.  

When do Nursing Homes use Management Companies? 

While the impacts of ownership, organizational form, and industry consolidation on nursing home operations and resident well-being have been the subject of robust exploration, the use of management companies, a common practice in nursing homes, has not. This research examines factors associated with management company engagement and associations between management company engagements, ownership, and form changes. A fuzzy D-i-D analysis estimates the impact of state staffing regulations on management company engagements in California. 

More Art than Science? Curricular Gender Segregation within a College Major

The choice of college major plays an important role in the gender wage gap, as men systematically choose majors associated with higher earnings. There may also be diverse curricula within majors. Under vertical gender segregation, women and men with the same major may acquire knowledge and skills that differ in their labor market value. This paper examines the relative popularity of courses that are more "art" (B.A.) or more "science" (B.S.) within the economics major at a large elite public institution. Faculty hiring efforts circa 2010 led to a large increase in the number of course offerings with substantial econometric and theoretical content. In 2020, a B.S. degree in economics was introduced alongside the existing B.A., with the former requiring more advanced coursework in econometrics and/or theory. This research compares and contrasts the gender patterns of coursework prior to the introduction of the B.S. and the difference in gender compositino between the B.A. and B.S post-introduction. The aims of this analysis are to add to knowledge on gendered patterns of course-taking, including men's and women's proclivities to obtain a B.S. versus B.A., based on preferences for courses that ex ante satisfied the B.S. requirement and therefore are not correlated with labor market returns to obtaining one degree or the other.

Early to Bed: Is There an Optimal Age to Establish a Bedtime? 

There is a longstanding debate and large literature about the impact of the age of entry to formal schooling on children's development, including cognitive and socio-behavioral outcomes. The age of school entry is also likely to have an important impact on the child's household. We estimate the causal impact of earlier school entry on how children are parented, identifying effects on affection, parenting stress, restrictions on television viewing, and activities that parents do with their children. Identification is achieved via state rules on school start ages. Children who begin school earlier are estimated to face more restrictions on television viewing than age-peers in the grade below. In particular, there is an increase in restrictions on late-night viewing, which is indicative of having a bedtime. Dynamic findings provide evidence that it is more difficult to initiate a bedtime with an older child, as children who enter school earlier remain more likely to have an enforced bedtime in later grade school and middle school than lower-grade age peers.

Do Early Childhood Education Credentials Raise Childcare Workers' Earnings? 

Efforts to improve the quality of childcare have led to state systems that codify child care credentials and set credential requirements for various positions at licensed providers. Illinois' Early Childhood Education (ECE) "Gateway" Credentials reward training and education using a 6-tiered scale ranging from 1 (a short on-the-job training period) to 6 (graduate degeree in an ECE field).  All childcare workers at licensed providers must report their credentials, other characteristics, and job-related information to a state data repository. Wage estimates indicate a positive association between earnings and credential levels. This association is robust with respect to controls for demographic characteristics, position, and formal educational attainment of the worker, as well as the size and type of establishment. On the whole, the estimates suggest that earnings returns are generally monotonic in the level of credential.