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Competition and childcare quality: Evidence from Quebec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2023

Vincent Chandler  and
Maryam Dilmaghani Open the ORCID record for Maryam Dilmaghani [Opens in a new window]
Vincent Chandler
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Quebec at Outaouais, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Maryam Dilmaghani*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
*
Corresponding author: Maryam Dilmaghani; Email: maryam.dilmaghani@smu.ca
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Abstract

Since 1997, the Canadian province of Quebec has put in place a heavily subsidized universal childcare program for all children under the school age. The present paper examines how the level of competition among individual providers associates with the quality of childcare in Quebec. The quality of childcare is measured by the number of violations and penalties recorded in the inspections conducted by the Quebec Ministry of Family Affairs. The analysis indicates that the intensity of parental competition for daycare spots, as opposed to childcare centres’ competition to attract parents, negatively associates with the quality of childcare. Critically, this association is mainly driven by less affluent neighbourhoods. In addition, these associations are found to be stronger for more serious violations. The policy implications for both childcare quality and childcare equality are discussed.

Keywords

universal childcarechildcare qualityQuebecCanada
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , First View , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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