CRIS Scientific Seminar 2024-2025

Friday, September 20th 2024, 11:30 am
Sciences Po, Room K011 (1, St-Thomas-d'Aquin)

Mitigating the socioeconomic gap in early childcare enrollment:
Evidence from a mixed-methods, multi-arm experiment

Laudine Carbuccia

PhD Candidate, Sciences Po - CRIS, LIEPP

Access to early childcare for low socioeconomic status (SES) families has the potential to mitigate socioeconomic inequalities.
Yet, there is an SES-based gap in early childcare enrollment. While low-SES families would benefit the most from attending early childcare, they access early childcare the least.

This study tackles cognitive and behavioral barriers behind this access gap. Through a mixed-methods, multi-arm experiment in the Paris metropolitan area, we evaluate the effectiveness of informational interventions and personalized administrative support in enhancing early childcare application and access for low-SES families.

Results reveal that the information-only treatment has little to no impact  for most families, combining information and administrative support significantly increases application rates for low-SES families, and bridges the SES-gap in early childcare applications for those that receive support. Moreover, we assess treatment heterogeneity based on migration background, level of information and previous experience with early childcare. We observe stronger effects among low-educated mothers born abroad, among families who had never used early childcare before, and among least informed households.
These findings underscore the importance of addressing cognitive and behavioral barriers to early childcare access, particularly for vulnerable populations. However, despite large impacts on application rates, we find limited impact on enrollment rates for low-SES families. By disentangling the impacts of informational interventions and administrative support, our study provides insights for policymakers aiming to promote equitable access to high-quality early childcare, thereby promoting equal opportunities from an early age, which is essential for mitigating inequalities.

Open Seminar. Please register here to join us!

To find out more: Personal webpage