Subsidised childcare as effective as cash grants
Subsidised childcare services are at least as effective as cash grants in increasing household income, a field experiment from Uganda shows.
Access to childcare is critical for increasing women's labour force participation in high-income countries but it is unclear if these lessons carry over to a low-income context where multiple market imperfections and social norms may limit women's labour market opportunities.
A recent paper by Fair researchers Kjetil Bjorvatn, Vincent Somville and Arne Nasgowitz, and Denise Ferris (BRAC), Selim Gulesci, (Trinity College Dublin) and Lore Vandewalle (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) presents findings from a field experiment designed and implemented in Uganda to understand the impact of free childcare on the mother’s business development and labour supply.
It adds to existing literature by also considering the impact of childcare on the labour supply of other household members, as well as a range of outcomes related to family welfare, including child development.