Topic: Tightening the Work Requirement for Subsidized Childcare and Maternal Employment

Speaker: ZHANG Hongliang, Zhejiang University

Time: April 3, 2025, 15:30

Venue: EMS 440

Abstract:

We study the effects of a Dutch reform that tightened work requirements for subsidized childcare on maternal employment. Before 2011, Dutch families were entitled to unlimited subsidized childcare hours for children under age 4 if both parents worked. In 2012, a reform capped subsidized childcare hours at 140% of the hours worked by the parent who worked less. To address potential adjustments in work and childcare hours after the 2012 reform, we focus on families whose parental work hours and older siblings' childcare hours were documented before 2012. Using a triple-difference approach, we exploit variations across families based on timing, presence of a toddler-aged younger child, and whether the new hours constraint would have affected older siblings before 2012. Our findings show that affected families experienced a significant decrease in mothers' labor force participation, while effects on fathers were minimal and statistically insignificant. We also find suggestive evidence of modest increases in labor supply and earnings for some mothers who remained employed.

Guest Bio:

Zhang Hongliang, Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is a ZJU 100 Young Professor (Class A) and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Economics, Zhejiang University, as well as the Deputy Director of the Labor Economics Research Institute. His research primarily focuses on micro-empirical economics, particularly the application of causal inference methods in labor economics, public economics, development economics, and urban economics. His work has been published in leading general-interest economics journals such as the Journal of the European Economic Association and International Economic Review, as well as top field journals including Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics (two articles), Journal of Urban Economics, and Economics of Education Review.