A recent study from the West Virginia University (WVU) Knee Regulatory Research Center found that states with strict child care regulations have lower birth rates than states with less strict regulations, in part because stricter regulations result in higher child care costs. It is said that it is something to do.
“Child care providers and parents are burdened with licensing regulations and administrative costs,” study co-author Anna Claire Flowers, a postdoctoral fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, said in a statement to The Daily Caller. said. “Quality care is the goal, but some measures have been shown to drive up prices more than quality.”
The Daily Caller reported, “Nationwide, childcare costs rose 32% from 2019 to 2023, outpacing the overall inflation rate of 20% over the same period.”
For this reason, many see childcare as a “classic” example of market failure, and therefore call for “further intervention in the form of subsidies” to offset higher costs. explains the report. “However,” the report continues.
The subsidy approach overlooks the important role that the regulatory environment of the child care market plays in driving up costs. Although well-intentioned, this regulatory framework hinders progress toward improving affordability, availability, flexibility, and quality for American families seeking child care solutions.
nanny state
The authors created a child care regulation index that ranks states on a scale of 0 to 10 based on child care regulations. 0 is the most restrictive and 10 is the least restrictive. Unsurprisingly, the lowest-ranked states are largely concentrated in liberal New England, but several Great Lakes states, including Tim Walz's Minnesota, also have very strict child care regulations. . The states with the most child care freedoms are mostly in the South and West. The most liberal state for child care is Louisiana, with an index of 9.08, while Massachusetts comes in last with an index of just 1.73.
The ranking considered 17 variables in four main categories of regulation: group size and employee-to-child ratios by age group and training hours and education requirements by position. For example, New York state requires child care facilities to have one staff member for every eight prekindergarten children, while North Carolina requires up to 20 children per teacher. Recognized. “Illinois requires preservice teachers to have a high school diploma and 60 college credit hours, plus additional training and experience to obtain licensure, while other states only require a GED,” the study says. It has been pointed out. Virginia, on the other hand, requires “75 square feet of outdoor space per child,” one-third of which “must be shaded play space with impact-absorbing surfaces.”
According to the authors, it is as follows.
These metrics are also poor indicators of true quality. Rather, it is the only “surrogate” that regulators can set objectively. In contrast, through repeated interactions, parents are typically able to determine the level of value and quality of indicators that are difficult to assess. However, these easy-to-monitor metrics for regulators do not correlate well with actual quality and drive up costs significantly. Childcare providers must make investments to meet regulatory standards, including hiring staff, obtaining certifications, upgrading facilities, and purchasing specialized equipment. These compliance costs are typically passed on to parents through higher fees. In other words, regulation strengthens the supply of services in a way that drives up prices, which fuels affordability concerns.
expensive? It's not a joke!
It is natural for couples to refrain from having children in the face of soaring childcare costs. The authors found this to be the case by comparing each state's ranking to its “fertility gap” (the difference between the “replacement rate” of 2.1 births per woman and the state's actual birth rate). .
In some states, an inverse relationship between regulation and fertility is observed. New England regions generally have lower index scores (the most restrictive) and above-average fertility inequality. Our study finds that a 1-point increase in the childcare regulation index (towards greater childcare freedom) is associated with a reduction in the fertility gap by 0.025 to 0.029 children.
The authors argue that if Massachusetts' child care regulations were as lenient as Louisiana's, the birth rate would increase by 14 percent. And if all states were as liberal in child care as Louisiana is, 14 states would have fertility rates above 1.9 births per woman and two states would exceed the replacement rate. He added that it would be.
“While not the only major factor, child care regulations are part of a policy puzzle that makes it more or less difficult for families to balance work responsibilities and child care,” Flowers told the Daily Caller.
That, in turn, is directly related to how many children are born. Another study cited by the authors concluded:
If the two (career and family) could be easily combined, more women would have careers and multiple children, resulting in higher birth rates and higher female labor force participation. When career and family goals conflict, fewer women work and fewer babies are born.
Vance was effectively vindicated
By implication, the WVU study justifies Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance's much-derided suggestion that car seat regulations are partly responsible for America's declining birth rate. The more rules a manufacturer has to follow, and therefore the more they have to charge for their products, and the older a child has to be in a car seat, the more expensive it is to have a child. When it costs money to have a child, that money dwindles. Like childcare regulations, child seat regulations do not explain the entire decline in the birthrate, but they are definitely a contributing factor.
