Recent decades have seen increased interest in early childhood education and care programs as a way to promote children’s development and family well-being.  This increased interest has led to increased government intervention of various forms, from regulation to government provision.  Fitzpatrick’s work has examined the effects of government provision of early childhood education (namely universal pre-k) on children’s long-term academic achievement and family decision making about child care use and parental labor supply.  More recently, Fitzpatrick and her colleagues are examining the effects of both government provision in and regulation of the early childhood care industry on the supply side (workers and firms) of the industry.

 

Selected Publications

Bassok, Daphna, Maria Fitzpatrick, Erica Greenberg and Susanna Loeb. 2016. “The Extent of Within-and Between-Sector Quality Differences in Early Childhood Education and Care.” Child Development. Vol 87(5): 1627-1645. Online version: DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12551

Bassok, Daphna, Maria D. Fitzpatrick, and Susanna Loeb. 2014. “Does State Preschool Crowd-Out Private Provision? The Impact of Universal Pre-Kindergarten on the Childcare Sector in Oklahoma and Georgia” with Daphna Bassok and Susanna Loeb. Journal of Urban Economics. 83: 18-33.

Daphna Bassok, Maria D. Fitzpatrick, Susanna Loeb and Agustina Paglayan. 2013. “The Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce from 1990 through 2010: Changing Dynamics and Persistent Concerns” Education Finance and Policy. 8(4): 581-601.

Fitzpatrick, Maria D. 2012. “Revising Our Thinking about the Relationship between Maternal Labor Supply and Preschool.” Journal of Human Resources. 47: 583-612.

Fitzpatrick, Maria D., David Grissmer and Sarah Hastedt. 2011. “What a Difference a Day Makes: Estimating Daily Learning Gains During Kindergarten and First Grade Using a Natural Experiment.” Economics of Education Review. 30(2): 269-279.

Fitzpatrick, Maria D. 2010. “Preschoolers Enrolled and Mothers at Work? The Effects of Universal Pre-Kindergarten.” Journal of Labor Economics. 28(1): 51-85.

Fitzpatrick, Maria D. 2008. “Starting School at Four: The Effect of Universal Pre-Kindergarten on Children’s Academic Achievement,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 8: No. 1(Advances), Article 46. Available at: http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol8/iss1/art46.