Choosing what is best for one's children? Experimental evidence on parents' responsiveness to childcare subsidies and their preferences for different childcare arrangements

How do various levels of subsidies shape parental preferences for different childcare arrangements? Using data collected in a choice experiment that was conducted with 540 parents in the city of Bern, Switzerland, this study demonstrates how parental preferences for adequate childcare arrangements for their preschool-aged children are crucially mediated by the offered subsidies. Focusing on center-based care, we further investigate whether these preferences differ across individual social status, earnings, migration background, and gender. The results show that subsidizing high-quality childcare centers seems to fulfill the underlying policy goal of shifting parents’ preferences toward formal, center-based care arrangements. We also observe that this effect is more pronounced for individuals who are less likely to resort to this type of childcare in the first place, namely, families with fewer monetary resources, individuals with a migration background, and men.