Volume 27, Number 1 (Winter) 1992
Walker, James R. 1992. "New Evidence on the Supply of Child Care: A Statistical Portrait of Family Providers and An Analysis of their Fees." Journal of Human Resources 27(1):40-69.
This paper offers a description of family home providers and the care they supply for three metropolitan areas. Comparisons are made across markets and between licensed and unlicensed family providers. Among the findings are (1) unregulated family providers care for few children per establishment and offer a more adult-time intensive form of care than do licensed providers; (2) licensed family providers exhibit more commitment to the profession; (3) family providers receive no return to experience or to education, and (4) family providers offer large discounts in fees covering more than one child.
James R. Walker is an assistant professor of economics and a fellow in the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. This research has been supported by a Grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to the Institute for Research on Poverty and by Project HD 19226 from the National Institute of Child Health and development. Beginning in June 1992 and continuing for the next three years, the data used in this article may be obtained from the author at the following address: Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706. The author would thank Ellen Kisker and Peggy Strain of Mathematica Policy Research for their technical assistance and support of the Child Care Supply and Needs Survey. Sharon McGroder of the Department of Health and Human Services provided information on the child care regulations in New Jersey and Illinois. The author also thanks Duncan Chaplin and Mike Lettau for excellent research assistance and Paul Dudenhefer for editorial assistance. He also thanks Duncan Chaplin, Jim Heckman, and Mike Lettau for useful discussions.
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