Assessing the effects of the child-care fee reform on public expenditures and taxation

• This paper studies the effects of the Swedish child-care fee reform on public expenditures and taxation in the municipalities. The reform implied a common system of child-care fees among all the municipalities and was introduced in 2002. In order to study its effects, we employ a difference-in-difference approach, where outcomes are compared with respect to differences in the municipalities' pre-reform fee systems. It was found that pre-reform characteristics determine taxes and expenditures in the post-reform period. We then discuss the likely causes of these differences and find that the reform did change the child-care demand in municippalities that had applied time rates relative to those who applied income dependent fees prior to reform. Changes in child-care quality were not connected to the pre-reform fee systems characteristics.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Child-care subsidies

local public expenditures

income taxation

Economics

Nationalekonomi

nationalekonomi

Economics

Publikations- och innehållstyp

pop (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)