ABSTRACT
The child care debate in the industrialized world cuts across national lines, even though the specifics vary from country to country. For some people concerned with the well-being of children, the central child care issue is what it does for children. Does the program enhance children’s cognitive and social development? Does it compensate for early deprivation? Does it assure good physical care and protect children from inadequate parenting? For others, child care is viewed largely as a service for parents, especially mothers, in order to facilitate work while children are young. Still others stress the rewards for society. They raise questions about the role of child care in increasing or decreasing female labor force participation rates, in socializing children into the society’s values, and in raising a more productive citizenry. All these issues appear in international as well as U.S. discussion, as does interest in the effects of care on such diverse domains as child development, school performance, fertility, marriage, and public expenditures.
