Child Care Policies

The XVIII European Conference of the Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti will deal with the effects of child-care interventions on child and parent outcomes.

Carlo De Benedetti (President of the Fondazione RDB) will open the conference.

During the morning session, Daniela Del Boca (Università degli Studi di Torino and CHILD) will present the report on “Child Care and Child Outcomes across Different Enviroments”, written in collaboration with Chris Flinn (New York University), Daniela Piazzalunga (Università degli Studi di Torino), Chiara Pronzato (Università degli Studi di Torino), Giuseppe Sorrenti (Università degli Studi di Torino) and Matt Wiswall (Arizona State University). The research investigates the effects of child care choices on child outcomes in different countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy) using detailed data on child care inputs and child outcomes. The report will be discussed by Matt Dickson (University of Bath) and Luca Flabbi (University of North Carolina).

In the afternoon, Andrea Ichino (European University Institute) will present the report on “Cognitive, non-cognitive and health effects of daycare 0-2 for children”, written in collaboration with Margherita Fort (Università degli Studi di Bologna) and Giulio Zanella (Università degli Studi di Bologna). The report evaluates costs and benefits of expanding day care in the age bracket 0-3 in an international perspective. In particular, the focus of the research is on the effect of having attended day care at age 0–3 on cognitive skills, non-cognitive abilities, behavioral disorders, and health at age 8–13, as well as on mothers’ fertility and labor supply. Results from this evaluation will be included in the report. The report will be discussed by Steven Stillman (Libera Università di Bolzano) and Thomas Le Barbachon (Università Bocconi).

After the presentations there will be a final discussion panel, chaired by Barbara Stefanelli (Corriere della Sera), with, among others, Claudia Giudici (Reggio Children) , Paola Profeta (Università Bocconi) and Valeria Troia (Councilor of educational policies for the Provincial Government of Siracusa).

Engish will be the working language of the two presentations, while the final panel will be held in Italian. In both cases a simoultaneous translation service will be provided.

Participation is free upon registration. To register, please fill in the participation form.