Publication:
Government Financial Support for Childcare Services: A Study of Regulations in 95 Economies

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.11 MB)
184 downloads
English Text (56.21 KB)
10 downloads
Date
2023-07-25
ISSN
Published
2023-07-25
Editor(s)
Abstract
This brief presents new data collected by the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law project on childcare legislation in 95 economies around the world. It focuses on government measures aimed at making childcare more affordable. The data used in this brief are based on a conceptual framework that considers both demand and supply-side constraints of the childcare market that limit the uptake and provision of childcare services. e data, current as of October 1, 2021, indicate that only 41 of these economies have policies to encourage the use of childcare by reducing its costs for parents, either through direct financial support to parents, support for private providers, or both. This brief offers a comprehensive overview of government support strategies to reduce costs and increase the affordability of childcare services; such an overview can guide further empirical analysis to assess the impact of these provisions.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Sakhonchik, Alena; Elefante, Marina; Niesten, Hannelore Maria L.. 2023. Government Financial Support for Childcare Services: A Study of Regulations in 95 Economies. Global Indicators Briefs ; No.21. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40084 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Filling the Gaps
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-07-11) Anukriti, S.; Dinarte-Diaz, Lelys; Elefante, Marina; Montoya-Aguirre, Maria; Sakhonchik, Alena
    This paper aims to provide global evidence on whether and what attributes of laws governing the provision of childcare services affect women's labor market outcomes. It merges country-year-level data from the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law database, which documents childcare laws across countries, with data on women's labor force participation from ILOSTAT. Using a difference-in-difference estimation framework, the analysis finds that the enactment of childcare laws increases women's labor force participation by 2 percent, on average. Moreover, the effect increases over time, reaching up to 4 percent five years after an enactment. This effect is driven by women who are married, have completed less than primary education, and are between the ages of 35 and 44. Lastly, regulation of the availability and affordability of childcare has a similar impact on female labor force participation, whereas the effect of quality regulation is smaller.
  • Publication
    Does Paternity Leave Matter for Female Employment in Developing Economies?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-03) Amin, Mohammad; Islam, Asif; Sakhonchik, Alena
    For a sample of 53 developing countries, the results show that women's employment among private firms is significantly higher in countries that mandate paternity leave versus those that do not. A conservative estimate suggests an increase of 6.8 percentage points in the proportion of women workers associated with the mandating of paternity leave.
  • Publication
    Could Childcare Services Improve Women’s Labor Market Outcomes in Indonesia?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-03) Halim, Daniel; Johnson, Hillary; Perova, Elizaveta
    In this brief, the authors explore whether lack of access to childcare is a constraint to female labor force participation (LFP) in Indonesia, a country where female LFP lags far below the regional average. Using household and labor force survey data, we find that low female LFP is linked to unsatisfied childcare needs - after childbirth, lack of access to informal childcare is associated with a longer absence from the workforce for women and a switch into less lucrative occupations or unpaid family work.
  • Publication
    The Gender Impact of Pension Reform
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01) James, Estelle; Cox Edwards, Alejandra; Wong, Rebeca
    During the past two decades, new multi-pillar systems have developed to make the plans more financially sustainable and beneficial for economic growth. These systems have been sweeping Latin America, the transition economies of Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as many OECD countries. The new systems contain two separate mandatory "pillars" or financing arrangements: a privately-managed defined contribution (DC) funded plan that handles workers' retirement saving and a publicly-managed defined benefit (DB) plan that is reduced in size compared with the old one and has the objective of redistributing and diversifying retirement income. In the defined contribution plan, the contribution is specified and placed in the worker's individual account but benefits are uncertain a priori--they depend strictly on contributions plus investment earnings that accumulate through the workers' lifetime. The fact that these accounts are funded, owned by workers, invested in financial markets, and don't carry a promise of a large tax-financed old age benefit relieves the government of a future financial obligation. However, critics argue that these plans will produce lower pensions for women, who have worked and contributed less than men. In contrast, supporters argue that the new systems remove biases in the old systems that favored men and discouraged work by women. They hypothesize that separating the redistributive function from the earnings-related saving function results in more transparent and targeted redistributions from which women will benefit.
  • Publication
    Opportunities for Men and Women : Emerging Europe and Central Asia
    (World Bank, 2011-12-06) Sattar, Sarosh
    The countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have a long history of striving for gender equality, especially in the public sphere. Not only was this an important goal during the socialist era, but governments continued to pursue gender equality even during the difficult years of transition. The governments in the region allocated substantial resources toward the health and education of both women and men. They also adopted legislation that treated women and men equally in the labor market and they provided child care services. During much of the last century, the region surpassed countries both developing and developed in establishing the equal treatment of women and men. This report reviews changes in gender inequalities in Europe and Central Asia over the last decade, with a particular focus on economic opportunities both in labor markets and in entrepreneurial activity. In addition, given the importance of health and education in opening up opportunities for men and women in the economic sphere, the report discusses the changes in human capital endowments in this area as well. Unfortunately, the lack of data prevents us from covering the role of other assets, such as property or financial assets, in broadening opportunities for women. The remainder of this executive summary is structured as follows. The next section, A, reviews the main aspects of the World Development Report on gender and development. The following sections, B and C, discuss the main messages of this report and policy priorities, respectively. Section D makes some closing remarks.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Private Solutions for Infrastructure in Rwanda : A Country Framework Report
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005) Private-Public Infrastructure Advisory Facility
    This report aims to provide an objective assessment of the condition of Rwanda's infrastructure sectors and of the institutional and policy frameworks that are associated with them. It also provides a clear route map for infrastructure sector reform, as well as highlighting both the opportunities that exist for the private sector and the role that the donor community can play in assisting the Government with establishing priorities in infrastructure.
  • Publication
    Determinants of Economic Growth : A Bayesian Panel Data Approach
    (2009-02-01) Moral-Benito, Enrique
    Model uncertainty hampers consensus on the key determinants of economic growth. Some recent cross-country, cross-sectional analyses have employed Bayesian Model Averaging to address the issue of model uncertainty. This paper extends that approach to panel data models with country-specific fixed effects. The empirical results show that the most robust growth determinants are the price of investment goods, distance to major world cities, and political rights. This suggests that growth-promoting policy strategies should aim to reduce taxes and distortions that raise the prices of investment goods; improve access to international markets; and promote democracy-enhancing institutional reforms. Moreover, the empirical results are robust to different prior assumptions on expected model size.
  • Publication
    Developing International Power Markets in East Asia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 1998-05) Crousillat, Enrique
    The Greater Mekong subregion--Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Yunnan Province of southern China--has good potential for international power trade. Initial interest in this market is being spearheaded by private developers negotiating bilateral cross-border trade agreements. But experience in power trade zones in Europe and North America shows that to achieve the benefits of fully fledged trade, the countries in the subregion need to closely coordinate electricity sector policy, operating protocols, and network development. This Note sets out the market development options, reviews sector reforms so far, assesses the obstacles to full power trade, and briefly outlines multilateral efforts to promote an infrastructure that will support international power trade in the subregion.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Annual Report 2004
    (Washington, DC, 2004-10) World Bank
    This Annual Report, which covers the period from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. The Board emphasized the following areas during the fiscal year: Strategic Framework, the Bank's Role in Poverty Reduction; Country Programs; Global Programs and Partnerships; Oversight and Fiduciary Responsibility, and Administrative Budget. Volume 2: Financial Statements Reporting. IBRD prepares its financial statements in accordance with accounting principles.
  • Publication
    Aging and Poverty in Africa and the Role of Social Pensions
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01) Subbarao, Kalanidhi
    In many low income African countries, three factors are placing an undue burden on the elderly: 1) the burden on the elderly has enormously increased with the increase in mortality of prime age adults due to the HIV-AIDS pandemic and regional conflicts; 2) the traditional safety net of the extended family has become ineffective and unreliable for the elderly; and, 3) in a few countries, the elderly are called upon to shoulder the responsibility of the family as they became the principal breadwinners, and caregivers for young children. While a number of studies have examined the welfare consequences of these developments on children, few studies have systematically analyzed the poverty situation among the elderly (relative to other groups) in low income countries in Africa, and the role of social pensions. This study aims to fill this gap. The findings show much heterogeneity across countries with respect to the proportion of the elderly population, the living arrangements, and the composition of households, and household headship. The analysis shows that the poverty situation, and especially the poverty gap ratio, for the household types the "elderly only", the "elderly with children" and the "elderly-headed households" is much higher than the average in several countries, and the differences are statistically significant. The analysis further shows that the fiscal cost of providing a universal non-contributory social pension to all of the elderly will be quite high - 2 percent to 3 percent of GDP, a level comparable to, or even higher, than the levels of total public spending on health care in some countries. While categorical targeting of a pension for the above groups yields the maximum poverty reduction impacts, and is also fiscally sustainable even in low income countries, its operational feasibility is considered to be weak. The study concludes that the case for a universal approach is weak. The best option appears to be to target the pension only to the poor among the elderly, keeping the benefit level low. The study underscores the need for more country-specific work to explore the feasibility of the recommended option in diverse country settings.