A recent study by Arizona State University’s Chris Herbst along with Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University, published in the Journal of Urban Economics, examines the link between childcare subsidies and childhood obesity. The study focuses on analyzing the impact of subsidized childcare on disadvantaged children’s weight outcomes.
The authors claim they found the odds for a child being overweight or obese are 40% higher for children in childcare programs that are subsidized versus those in non-subsidy programs.
Herbst and Tekin speculate that the higher rates of overweight and obesity are driven by the program’s employment mandate and the low-quality childcare that the subsidy purchases.
I do not understand the conclusion that the program’s employment mandate would have an effect of the child being overweight. Children are in childcare for reasons they do not understand or control. In most cases it’s because their parents work and can’t stay at home to watch them, and there are no relatives available to take care of them. Whether that parent is mandated to work to get welfare benefits, including childcare, or if that parent is a doctor or lawyer and leaves the child at childcare to be able to go to work, the respective children are in the same situation. Their parents are working, mandated or voluntarily.
What concerns me more, however, is the statement by the authors that subsidy purchases low-quality childcare. This may or may not be correct, but is is alarming, since the state agencies that provide childcare subsidies are assigned the mission to enable the same quality services that the market provides. Parental choice is a key factor in all state subsidy programs, and parents choose their childcare locations and as a result they make a choice about the quality of the program.
If the conclusions of the study are correct, one of two things must be going on: Either the parents receiving subsidy choose inferior programs or centers for their children, due to lack of information or insight, or states are not allowing parents to choose and are therefore out of compliance.
I can affirm with certainty that in general those state government officials in charge of the subsidy programs are dedicated to the mission of providing the highest quality care to children, while enabling parental choice regarding the programs, locations and general capabilities of the childcare providers.
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