The Long-Run Effects of Childcare Subsidies on Maternal Labor Market Outcomes

Over half of the parents who use childcare spend more than 20 percent of their household income on childcare expenses. Recent research has shown that childcare subsidies increase women’s attachment to the labor force. Still, most political focus has been on interventions for preschool-aged children, which may come after many women have already made their decision to rejoin the labor force or "stay-at-home". This paper investigates the long-run impact of childcare subsidies offered soon after first birth on a women's employment, earnings, and total hours worked. Using restricted data which links earnings records from the SSA/IRS to the SIPP 1984-2009 panels and the PSID, I implement a dynamic difference-in-difference model that exploits variation in the timing of birth and the 2003 expansion to the Child and Dependent Care Credit. I find that women exposed to the expansion when their children are young are more likely to work and have higher earnings. Early exposed women are 1.2 to 2.5 percentage points more likely to be employed zero to four years after giving birth, suggesting they return to work sooner. This effect grows in the long run. Early exposed women are 3.1 to 5.2 percentage points more likely to be employed five to ten years after giving birth, suggesting they are more likely to remain employed. This translates to large earnings returns for early exposed women. Five to ten years after giving birth early exposed women earn between $5,600-$6,300 more per year.

Universal Full-Day Kindergarten and Maternal Labor Supply: A Life-Cycle Analysis

With Dr. Katie R. Genadek and Dr. Kristine West

R & R at Labour Economics

We estimate the effect of state-level policies enacting universal free full-day kindergarten on mothers’ labor supply. Similar to previous research on child care and labor supply, we find that free full-day kindergarten increases labor force participation rates for mothers whose youngest child is kindergarten aged by 4.3 to 7.1 percentage points. Additionally, we find that for mothers whose youngest child is an infant, labor force participation increases by 7.2 to 9.8 percentage points. The fact that the policies impact the labor supply for mothers of infants by as much or even more than mothers of kindergarten-aged children is important for understanding the full effect of subsidized child care and is consistent with a life-cycle model of labor supply where wages and prices in future periods impact mothers’ labor force attachment.

Course Correction: College Dropout and Labor Market Returns 

With Dr. Sam Allgood and Dr. Lauire Miller

There has been a recent push to hold post-secondary institutions accountable for student graduation and success. While there is extensive literature documenting the average returns to college, recent evidence suggests heterogeneous outcomes based on ability. Using survey data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS:88) linked to transcript records we examine whether the decision to drop out is a correction to the decision to attend a four-year institution. We assess the return to college persistence for marginal students by comparing the labor market outcomes for students who graduate to those who dropout using propensity score matching. Our rich data set allows us to better model the decision to drop out of college by including college major and GPA. We find no significant difference in annual wages or in the probability of having health care coverage between dropouts and those that graduate. Dropouts are less likely to have a retirement plan and are less likely to be satisfied with their fringe benefit plan. Using the weights generated by our propensity score matching we provide descriptive evidence suggesting that dropouts and graduates hold similar jobs and perform similar skills on the job.

Impact of Targeted Grants on Non-traditional Enrollment

Recently, a number of states have passed legislation targeting adult students. The majority of these programs are last-dollar grants which pay the remaining balance of tuition after state and federal aid has been applied. This paper examines the impact the Adult Student Grant had on non-traditional student enrollment in Indiana. The Adult Student Grant is a need-based grant worth up to $2,000. My estimates show a modest increase in total enrollment for students over the age of 25. This increase is primarily driven by an increase in two-year college enrollment. At least some of this increase in two-year enrollment comes from students substituting away from four-year enrollment, indicating that policymakers must carefully consider where they wish to increase enrollment.  

Eviction in childhood (with Ashley Erceg, Carl Gershenson, and Nick Graetz

Preschool (with Brenden Timpe)