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Demands for Child Care and Household Labour Supply in Australia *
Author(s) -
DOIRON DENISE,
KALB GUYONNE
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2005.00257.x
Subject(s) - tobit model , budget constraint , constraint (computer aided design) , labour supply , child care , economics , labour economics , bivariate analysis , demographic economics , discrete choice , econometrics , microeconomics , medicine , nursing , engineering , mechanical engineering , statistics , mathematics
Demands for formal and informal child care are estimated using a bivariate Tobit model. Predicted costs of child care are incorporated in the households' budget constraint and a discrete choice labour supply model is estimated. Separate models are estimated for couples and lone parents. Increases in the prices and costs of child care lead to reductions in labour supply for lone parents and partnered mothers. Results suggest the average elasticities in Australia are closer to those found in the UK and are smaller than the estimates for Canada and the US. Effects are stronger for single parents and mothers facing low wages.