Påverkar användandet av barnomsorg den ekonomiska tillväxten?

In recent years, the use of childcare especially in rich countries, has gone through a huge development. Well-established theories and previous research suggest that the social infrastructure has a positive impact on economic growth and that there is a positive relationship between childcare and equality. However, studies about how childcare affects economic growth are scarce. The aim of the study is therefore to investigate whether childcare affects GDP per capita growth. Thus, childcare may affect parent’s ability to combine work and parenting. The hypothesis is that childcare has a positive impact on economic growth. To investigate the issue, panel data over 13 OECD countries and a 30-year period is used. The regression shows that when the variable for childcare is statistically significant the impact of childcare on economic growth are negative both today and teen years ahead, but the number of observations is few, so no far-reaching conclusion can be drawn from this study