A dynamic analysis of turnover in employment and child care

The causes of turnover in child-care arrangements and maternal employment are analyzed using panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, supplemented with state-level information on child-care markets. The results indicate that turnover in child care is quite high and that child and family characteristics help explain turnover. Important factors include the mother’s wage, the cost of child care, age of the child, and previous child-care decisions. The reduced-form nature of the analysis makes it difficult to determine whether these factors are important because they are associated with unstable child-care supply or because they affect family decisions, conditional on supply factors. The results provide no direct evidence that child-care turnover is higher in states with more unstable child-care markets.     

The effect of child care and part time opportunities on participation and fertility decisions in Italy

Economic models of household behavior typically yield the prediction that increases in schooling levels and wage rates of married women lead to increases in their labor supply and reductions in fertility. In Italy, low labor market participation rates of married women are observed together with low birth rates. Our explanation involves the Italian institutional structure, particularly as reflected in rigidities and imperfections in the labor market and characteristics of the publicly-funded child care system. These rigidities tend to simultaneously increase the costs of having children and to discourage the labor market participation of married women. We analyze a model of labor supply and fertility, using panel data. The empirical results show that the availability of child care and part time work increase both the probability of working and having a child. Received: 14 February 2000/Accepted: 20 February 2001     

The demand for nonrelative child care among families with infants and toddlers: A double-hurdle approach

Despite the increasing prevalence of nonparental child care, many parents in the United States care exclusively for their young children, even when both parents work. We examine reasons for non-consumption of child care by estimating double-hurdle, tobit and dominance models of the demand for nonrelative child care. Our results indicate that parents' decision whether to use any nonrelative child care is guided by different considerations than the decision of how much care to use. Furthermore, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some parents are not interested in nonrelative care, regardless of its price or nonmaternal income. Received: 27 January 2000/Accepted: 20 June 2001     

The determinants and consequences of child care subsidies for single mothers in the USA

This paper provides an analysis of child care subsidies under welfare reform in the USA. We used data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families to analyze the determinants of receipt of a child care subsidy and the effects of subsidy receipt on employment, school attendance, unemployment, and welfare participation. Ordinary least-squares estimates that treat subsidy receipt as exogenous show an effect of subsidy receipt on employment of about 13 percentage points. Two-stage least-squares estimates that treat subsidy receipt as endogenous and use county dummies as identifying instruments show an effect of 33 percentage points on employment, 20 percentage points on unemployment, and no effects on schooling and welfare receipt.

The perceived impact of child care costs on women’s labor supply and fertility

In a sample of Detroit-area mothers of preschool-aged children interviewed in 1986, one-third reported that child care problems had constrained their employment. Such reports were relatively prevalent among poor women, those without relatives nearby, and those willing to entrust the care of their children to nonfamily members. Only one-tenth of the sample reported a similar child care constraint on fertility, a phenomenon unrelated to income but relatively prevalent among women with strong labor force attachment. The results suggest that policies to increase the supply of child care or to lower its cost could increase female labor supply by a substantial fraction, with an even greater rise among women most at risk of poverty and reliance on public assistance, but probably would not raise fertility significantly.     

The effects of family caps on the subsequent fertility decisions of never-married mothers

Family caps seek to reduce fertility among welfare recipients by denying additional cash assistance to recipients who have children while on welfare. A necessary condition for family caps to be an effective policy tool is that welfare recipients respond to financial incentives in making decisions that affect subsequent fertility outcomes. This paper uses data from the 2001 and 2004 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine whether welfare mothers respond to the incentive provided by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children/Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (AFDC/TANF) system in determining whether or not to have a second child. The results show no evidence that family caps have an effect on the subsequent childbearing of never married women.

老年人照料需要与照料费用最新研究述评

本文结合我国的研究现状就当前发达国家特剐是美国在老年人照料需求和照料费用研究领域的进展和发现作了简单介绍和述评。     

Availability of child care in the United States: A description and analysis of data sources

Lack of high-quality, affordable, and accessible child care is an often-cited impediment to a manageable balance between work and family. Researchers, however, have been restricted by a scarcity of data on the availability of child care across all U.S. communities. In this paper we describe and evaluate several indicators of child care availability that have been released by the U.S. Census Bureau over the last 15 years. Using community- and individual-level analyses, we find that these data sources are useful for indicating child care availability within communities, even though they were collected for other purposes. Furthermore, our results generally suggest that the data on child care availability are equally valid across communities of different urbanicity and average income levels, although it appears that larger geographic areas more accurately capture the child care market of centers than that of family day care providers. Our analyses indicate that center child care is least available in nonmetropolitan, poor communities, and that family day care is most available in nonmetropolitan, mixed-income communities. We discuss the benefits and limitations of the data sources, and point to directions for future data developments and research.     

A theory of technophysio evolution, with some implications for forecasting population, health care costs, and pension costs

We argue that over the past 300 years human physiology has been undergoing profound environmentally induced changes made possible by numerous advances in technology. These changes, which we call technophysio evolution, increased body size by over 50%, and greatly improved the robustness and capacity of vital organ systems. Because technophysio evolution is still ongoing, it is relevant to forecasts of longevity and morbidity and, therefore, to forecasts of the size of the elderly population and pension and health care costs.     

The effect of an additional birth on low-income urban families

Abstract The effects of the birth of an additional child to families living in poverty areas of New York City are studied in this paper. Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center in 1965 and 1967 provided the data in a panel of parous or married women of childbearing age. Control ling for the number of children in the family in 1965, the non-occurrence of an additional birth in the following two years was found to have a significant effect on current income, savings, reliance on public assistance, general ability to plan and organize one's household, and wife's employment. No significant effects were found with respect to possession of consumer durables or attending a school or training course. While many claims have been made about the beneficial effects of family planning on family welfare, this study is among a very small number where such effects are empirically documented.     

The effect of child support enforcement on child support payments

This paper examines the effect of state child support enforcement legislation on child support received from absent fathers by ever-married women due support in 1978 or 1981. The analysis is based upon data from the 1979 and 1982 March/April Match files of the Current Population Survey, two nationally-representative surveys of the eligible child support population, combined with a data set assembled by the authors on child support enforcement techniques available in each state. Based upon probit estimates and OLS estimates corrected for sample selection bias, we find that expedited processes and liens (against real and personal property), as well as wage withholding laws in effect for at least three years, increased the amount of child support received in 1981. In general, enforcement is more effective at increasing the amount received than the probability of receiving something, and is more effective for Blacks than for nonBlacks.     

Welfare work requirements and child well-being: Evidence from the effects on breast-feeding

A central theme of welfare reform is that recipients are required to engage in work activities. In many states, these work requirements apply to mothers whose children are a few months old, which may increase the costs and decrease the prevalence of breast-feeding. Given the substantial benefits of breast-feeding, any reduction represents an important negative consequence of these requirements. Our results suggest that in the absence of welfare reform, the national breast-feeding rate six months after birth would have been 5.5% higher in 2000. Such negative consequences of these policies must be weighed against potential benefits as states refine their welfare programs.     

The impact of “parent care” on female labor supply decisions

Data from the 1986–1988 Survey of Income and Program Participation panels were used to analyze how informal-caregiving of disabled elderly parents affected female labor supply. Instrumental variables analyses suggested that coresidence with a disabled parent leads to a large, significant reduction in work hours, due primarily to withdrawal from the labor force. Although the impact of nonhousehold member caregiving was insignificant, evidence of an effect was stronger when commitment of caregiving time was greater. Projections of female labor force participation rates should account for potential increases in caregiving demand due to the aging of the U.S. population.     

Estimating the effect of child mortality on the number of births

This article rigorously derives the properties of the regression of births on child deaths. It is shown how the raw regression coefficient may be corrected for the effects of fertility on mortality so that the rate at which dead children are replaced may be estimated. The method is applied to data from Colombia. It is found that the mortality rate differs across individuals and is correlated with fertility. Such conditions vitiate the use of birth intervals and parity progression ratios yet can be dealt with using the new method. On average each death produces 0.2 new births as a direct result of the death. Fertility hoarding may raise the total fertility response to roughly one-half birth per death.     

The experiences of breastfeeding mothers returning to work as hospital nurses in Pakistan: A qualitative study

Background

Pakistan has a higher infant mortality rate than countries with comparable economies, with around half of all under-5 deaths occurring in the first month of life. Breastfeeding is known to improve infant morbidity and mortality, but rates of formula feeding in Pakistan are increasing. Maternal employment is recognised globally as a major barrier to the continuation of breastfeeding.

The effect of pregnancy intention on child development

In this paper, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate the empirical link between unintended pregnancy and child health and development. An important contribution of our study is the use of information on siblings to control for unmeasured factors that may confound estimates of the effect of pregnancy intentions on infant and child outcomes. Results from our study indicate that unwanted pregnancy is associated with prenatal and postpartum maternal behaviors that adversely affect infant and child health, but that unwanted pregnancy has little association with birth weight and child cognitive outcomes. Estimates of the association between unwanted pregnancy and maternal behaviors were greatly reduced after controls for unmeasured family background were included in the model. Our results also indicate that there are no significant differences in maternal behaviors or child outcomes between mistimed and wanted pregnancies.     

The impact of child care on fertility in urban Thailand

Women’s labor force participation in Thailand, particularly in the modem sector, recently has increased in conjunction with rapid declines in fertility. This paper examines whether a relationship exists between child care considerations and fertility decision making among Bangkok women. Although the two-child family has become the norm in recent years, and although most respondents said that ideally they would like to have two children, a high proportion of women surveyed said they planned to only have one child. Women’s work status and type of employment is found to strongly affect the likelihood of having a second birth: those who work at jobs that not only are low-paying but are located in a formal setting are least likely to have a second child. The type of child care for the first child also has an impact: those whose first child is in a less preferred situation are less likely to have a second. Variables measuring the need for and type of child care are found to have greater consequences for fertility than do usual measures of socioeconomic status.     

The effect of divorce costs on marriage formation and dissolution

Exploiting the theoretical parallels between the matching of workers to jobs in the labour market and the matching of individuals in the marriage market, we use a search theoretic model of marriage formation and dissolution to examine the effect of divorce costs on both decisions. By introducing learning at both stages of the marital decision process, we show that divorce costs not only affect the probability of divorce but also the probability of marriage. Interestingly, to what extent divorce costs affect the marital status distribution depends on the information regarding the quality of the potential marriage that individuals receive while encountering marital offers. Received: 30 July 1996/Accepted: 7 December 1998     

The impact of child mortality on spacing by parity: A Cox-regression analysis

Child mortality may affect spacing through biological and behavioral channels. The death of a child may elicit a desire to have another one soon; further, it may interrupt breastfeeding and shorten the sterile period following childbirth. The hypothesis that the child mortality-spacing linkage varies across parities, being strongest in the middle parities, is examined using microdata from Malaysia and the Cox-regression technique. The empirical results lend support to the hypothesis.