The study investigates the impact of public childcare provision on the incidence of severe child maltreatment. For identification, the authors exploit a reform that expanded early childcare in Germany, generating large temporal and spatial variation in childcare coverage at the county level. Using high-quality administrative data covering all reported cases of child maltreatment in Germany by county and year, the results show that an increase in childcare slots by one percentage point in a county reduced child maltreatment cases leading to out-of-home placement by about 1%. These results suggest that the provision of universal public childcare may be more cost-effective than previously thought.
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The Economic Journal is one of the founding journals of modern economics. Since 1891 the journal has provided a platform for high-quality, imaginative economic research, earning a worldwide reputation for excellence as a general interest journal, publishing papers in all fields of economics for a broad international readership. The Economic Journal welcomes submissions whether they be theoretical, applied, or orientated towards academics or policymakers. The Editorial Board are drawn from leading international institutions and cover a wide range of expertise. As well as providing the reader with a broad spectrum of high-quality, stimulating papers the Editorial Board is committed to providing rapid feedback to submitting authors
