Family policies and child skill accumulation

Abstract

We analyze the economic effects of two major family policies in the United States, the Child Tax Credit and the Child Care and Development Fund childcare subsidy, in an overlapping generations framework where altruistic parents invest in their child's skill using their own time and purchased childcare time. The model incorporates differences in the design of these policies and endogenizes low rates of childcare subsidy receipt by including application costs and subsequent rationing. We compare the effects of a recent child tax credit expansion with a spending-equivalent expansion of the childcare subsidy implemented by reducing access frictions. Across steady states, the childcare subsidy expansion generates a larger increase in average adult skill, which leads to larger welfare gains behind the veil of ignorance compared to the tax credit expansion. However, the two policies yield similar average welfare gains for adults who know their own skill level, and the tax credit benefits a larger share of this group.