The Matthew effect in childcare use: a matter of policies or preferences?

ABSTRACT

Under the social investment paradigm, formal childcare services are heralded as being the policy instrument par excellence to combat social exclusion. However, it was shown that a Matthew effect (ME) in its use is present in almost all European countries: disadvantaged children are less likely to use childcare than more advantaged children. In this contribution we aim to uncover the cause of the ME by distinguishing between supply-side and demand-side explanations. This refers to constraints in the availability or affordability of childcare and to dominant cultural norms on motherhood. In doing so, we take due account of the role of employment. The results show that the ME in formal childcare cannot be explained by class differences in employment. Moreover, the ME is related to the supply-side and much less to the demand-side. Structural constraints in childcare provision matter everywhere and tend to limit the uptake of childcare, especially for disadvantaged children. In contrast, cultural norms on motherhood are a less important predictor of the ME in childcare use. This means that more investment in the provision of childcare services is necessary in order to achieve its ambitious policy goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Childcare
• inequality
• Matthew effect
• preferences
• social investment
• welfare state

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jeroen Horemans, the participants in the ESPAnet 2016 conference and in 2017 seminar ‘Investing in children’ in Madrid, and two anonymous referees for valuable and constructive comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Emmanuele Pavolini is associate professor in economic sociology and social policy at the University of Macerata.

Wim Van Lancker is an assistant professor in social work and social policy at the Centre for Sociological Research, University of Leuven, and affiliated with the Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

ORCID

Wim Van Lancker http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4071-5329

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a postdoctoral research grant (no. 12P5215N) of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).