2026/01: The hidden trade-offs of regulating childcare quality
I study how a childcare quality law affected enrollment and parental employment in Spain. The policy established the first formal requirements for nursery schools serving children aged 0 to 3. Using administrative data and regional variation in implementation, I find that the reform raised childcare quality by 0.10 standard deviations but reduced availability by 48%. Maternal employment fell by 15%, meaning mothers were 11 percentage points less likely to work after childbirth, with working intensity declining by 14 percentage points. Effects concentrate among private-sector workers with less flexible jobs; fathers were unaffected. Unlike prior work examining quality or quantity separately, this paper provides the first joint analysis revealing that quality regulations without preserving availability harm working mothers.
SEMINAR: Randi Hjalmarsson (University of Gothenburg) – «Job Sorting and the Labor Market Effects of a Criminal Record»
March 24, 2026 – 14.30h – Sala de Recepcions
SEMINAR: Domnisoru Ciprian (Aalto University) – «The role of firms in shaping the work, study, and graduation choices of student employees»
March 3, 2026 – 14.30h – Sala de Recepcions
SEMINAR: Luigi Minale (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) – «Immigration and Social Capital: Evidence from the European Union Enlargement»
February 24, 2026 – 14.30h – Sala de Recepcions
IV WORKSHOP ON PUBLIC POLICIES
June 15-16, 2026
Bosque-Mercader, Laia
