Investing in childcare: what are the individual and collective returns? A dynamic microsimulation of the French case

Pierre Courtioux, EDHEC
Olivier Thevenon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Our paper will assess the returns which can be expected in France from the investment in childcare services in order to support the combination between work and family formation. We assess the question of the potential gain in individual returns of this investment by comparing the career of male and female (controlling the diploma) and the related financial flows over the life course (wage, income tax, unemployment benefit). We appraise the question of the collective return by an evaluation of the childcare cost and the increase in taxes due to the increase in female activity rate.