TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Hermes, Henning
AU  - Lergetporer, Philipp
AU  - Peter, Frauke
AU  - Wiederhold, Simon
        TI  - Behavioral Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment
        PY  - 2021/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 14698
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14698
        AB  - Children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to benefit more from early child care, but are substantially less likely to be enrolled. We study whether reducing behavioral barriers in the application process increases enrollment in child care for lower-SES children. In our RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care (n > 600), treated families receive application information and personal assistance for applications. For lower-SES families, the treatment increases child care application rates by 21 pp and enrollment rates by 16 pp. Higher-SES families are not affected by the treatment. Thus, alleviating behavioral barriers closes half of the SES gap in early child care enrollment.
        KW  - educational inequality
KW  - information
KW  - behavioral barriers
KW  - early childhood
KW  - child care
KW  - randomized controlled trial
        ER  -