%0 Report
        %A Herbst, Chris M.
        %T Effects of Center-Based Child Care on Disadvantaged Children: Evidence from a Randomized Research Design
        %D 2024
        %8 2024 Nov
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 17430
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17430
        %X This paper uses the random assignment of poor families to treatment and control conditions in the Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP) to isolate the causal effect of center-based child care enrollment on child well-being. Operating throughout the early-1990's, the CCDP demonstration aimed to improve child development and family functioning by offering those in the treatment group five years of high-quality child care along with case management. As a result, treated children were substantially more likely to be enrolled in center-based programs throughout the preschool-age years, and I use this variation to estimate the impact of center care on children's language and social skills as well as health. 
I uncover mixed results: more time spent in center-based settings improves language skills but reduces social skills in the short-run, and both effects fade-out for most children within one to two years. I also find that early center care use is strongly predictive of later Head Start enrollment, indicating that a more deliberate "family retention strategy" may be effective at lengthening children's exposure to high-quality early education.
        %K child care
%K child development
%K maternal employment
%K instrumental variables