TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Powers, Elizabeth T.
AU  - Zou, Jian
        TI  - The Impact of Federal Nutrition Support for Infants and Young Children on Home Daycare Services
        PY  - 2026/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18872
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18872
        AB  - Many small, home-based, childcare businesses participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). This large but little-studied federal program provides fixed reimbursements for food costs to support nutrient-dense meals and snacks for young children in out-of-home care. We use unique, richly detailed administrative data and a policy reform that exogenously increased some providers’ reimbursements to estimate causal effects of CACFP on childcare services. An own-price effect on food service, a positive effect on complementary services, and a possible pass-through of reimbursements in prices are predicted. There is suggestive evidence of price increases for the care of very young children and for before-and-after-school care. We fail to find significant effects on indicators of provider quality. In a heterogeneity analysis, there are no differences in response by child poverty. In contrast, significant findings on dinner and duration in the sample are driven by the non-rural providers. Overall, CACFP may especially benefit low-income households by increasing opportunities to receive subsidized food away from home and better accommodating lengthy work days and nonstandard schedules.
        KW  - child care
KW  - subsidies
KW  - Child and Adult Care Food Program
KW  - daycare home services
        ER  -