As part of the Brown Bag Lunch series, the International Economics Department at the Graduate Institute is pleased to invite you to a public talk given by Mara Barschkett, a Visiting PhD Student from DIW Berlin.

Age-specific Effects of Early Daycare on Children's Health

Abstract: Over the past decades, the share of very young children in daycare has increased significantly in many OECD countries including Germany. Despite the relevance of child health for the development of (non-)cognitive skills, the effects of daycare attendance on health have received little attention in the economic literature. In this study, I investigate the impact of a large daycare expansion in Germany on age-specific mental and physical health outcomes of children. Based on administrative health records covering 90% of the German population, I employ difference-and-differences as well as event study approaches taking advantage of temporal and spatial variation in the expansion speed of daycare slots. My results provide evidence for a substitution of illness spells from the first years of elementary school to the first years of daycare. Namely, I find that early daycare attendance increases the prevalence of respiratory and infectious diseases as well as healthcare consumption when entering daycare (1--2 years), but decreases the prevalence at elementary school age. I do not find evidence for an effect of the daycare expansion on mental disorders and obesity.