The Effect of Child's School Entry on Maternal Employment: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from South Korea. (12th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Choi, Jaehee; Jung, Haeil
• Is Part Of: Journal of international development. Volume 29:Number 8(2017:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1075
• Page End: 1105
• Publication Date: 2017-09-12
• Subjects: maternal employment -- public school enrolment -- regression discontinuity design -- work–family conflict; Economic development projects -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Economic policy -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Foreign economic relations -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Periodicals; 330.91724
• DOI: 10.1002/jid.3312
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-1748

Abstract

Abstract: Public school is a form of highly subsidized, universal childcare and thus an important aspect of childcare policies. We examine the impact of a child's school entry on maternal employment in South Korea where mothers have been inactive in the labour force. We utilize a natural experiment where the school‐age eligibility requirement in South Korea generates an exogenous variation in the cost of childcare and lends itself to a regression discontinuity design. Our findings suggest that for women with low levels of own or spouse's education, enrolling their children in school leads to a sizeable increase in labour force participation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.