How did the home care allowance affect parent's labour supply, children's participation in preschool and later school results?

This project examines how the municipal child home care allowance (kommunala vårdnadsbidraget) affected parents’ labour supply, children’s enrollment in preschool and their later school results. The home care allowance was a benefit directed to parents who wanted to stay home with their 1-3-year-old child instead of enrolling the child in preschool.

To estimate the effect of eligibility for the home care allowance, we exploit that the availability of this benefit has varied over time (municipalities were allowed to offer this type of benefit between 1 July 2008 and 1 January 2016) and across municipalities (e.g., in 2012, 115 out of the 290 Swedish municipalities offered this benefit). This makes it possible to compare families living in municipalities with and without this allowance.