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5. Juni 2013

Cluster-Seminar Öffentliche Finanzen und Lebenslagen

Education and time investment in children: Is Germany different?

Termin

5. Juni 2013
12:30 - 13:30

Ort

Eleanor-Dulles-Raum
DIW Berlin im Quartier 110
Room 5.2.010
Mohrenstraße 58
10117 Berlin

Sprecher*innen

Verena Lauber, Universität Konstanz
Parental investment in terms of money and time is considered to be crucial for a child's development. Research on childcare, which is mainly based on US data, agrees that education has a positive impact on maternal caring time, despite the fact that high earning prospects increase the incentives for labor market participation. Given differences in the family support and other aspect of family environment there is no reason to believe that these results apply to all other countries.
This paper provides evidence for West Germany using the German Time Use Survey (GTUS). Comparable results show no significantly positive effect of college education on childcare time for mothers. This is in particular the case for university education. The highest secondary school degree, however, has a positive impact on childcare for mothers. Households with a university educated mother divide caring responsibilities differently. Their partners spend significantly more time caring, especially during the week. These mothers spend relatively more time caring on weekends and daycare is used more often. On weekends the father's university education has a positive impact on caring time, especially the time spend with the child and another adult. These results are strongly influenced by households with a child that is in pre-school age. Analyzing subcategories of childcare separately reveals that university educated mothers spend relatively less time on basic and recreational care, but more on educational care activities.

The effects for West Germany are directly contrasted to four other OECD countries and East Germany. In France and East Germany, two areas with a relative high supply of public daycare, the effect of college education for mothers it is even negative on weekdays. In Spain, a typical Southern European country, it is only a little larger than in West Germany. In the Anglo-Saxon countries, UK and US, the marginal effect of education is relatively larger. Controlling for the partner's education shrinks the effect for the US. The partner's characteristic may consequently be one driving force behind the educational effects. The mother's college education has a positive effect on the father's caring time in all countries but the UK and East Germany.

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