<mark>improving maternal labor outcomes through provision of childcare services for very young children would most likely need to tackle additional problems of social norms, trust, and higher costs. Lastly, our review emphasizes the importance of carefully considering local context when targeting childcare services to specific income groups. In contrast to high-income country settings, poorer and/or less-educated mothers in low- and middle-income countries do not necessarily always reap higher benefits of public provision of childcare, a result that may be driven by a paucity of labor market options for these women.</mark> <mark>Future research can prioritize examination of the relationship between these and other features of childcare services and labor market outcomes beyond labor force participation and work. Future research could also focus on non-monetary welfare outcomes of mothers, and on the impacts of different childcare arrangements on other household members, including grandparents, fathers and older siblings.</mark> The COVID-19 pandemic brings questions about childcare and FLFP to the fore, as school closures and economic contractions have often resulted in women reducing their employment and/or shifting into informal work (Biscaye, Egger, and Pape 2021; O’Donnell et al. 2021). As a result, some policy makers have developed responses directly pertaining to childcare provision— as in case of the United States, for example (White 2021).<sup>19</sup> We hope that this review, which summarizes available evidence and highlights design features of institutional childcare that can facilitate maternal labor market engagement, may be useful as policy makers tackle the COVID19-induced domestic care burden, as well as the broader challenges associated with mothers’ engagement in the labor market.

# **<mark>REFERENCES</mark>**

- Aaronson, Daniel, Rajeev Dehejia, Andrew Jordan, Cristian Pop-Eleches, Cyrus Samii, and Karl Schulze. 2021. “The Effect of Fertility on Mothers’ Labor Supply over the Last Two Centuries.” _The Economic Journal_ 131 (633): 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaa100.

- Akgunduz, Yusuf Emre, and Janneke Plantenga. 2018. “Child Care Prices and Maternal Employment: A Meta-Analysis.” _Journal of Economic Surveys_ 32 (1): 118–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12192.

- Angeles, Gustavo, Paola Gadsden, Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler, Andrea Herrera, Patricia Kariger, and Enrique Seira. 2011. “Evaluación de Impacto Del Programa Estancias Infantiles Para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras.” Centro de Investigación en Evaluación y Encuestas. https://www.dgtic.sedesol.gob.mx/work/models/SEDESOL/Resource/2342/1/images/Evaluacio n_impacto_PEI/Inf_Final_PEI.pdf.

- Attanasio, Orazio, and Marcos Vera-Hernandez. 2004. “Medium-and Long Run Effects of Nutrition and Child Care: Evaluation of a Community Nursery Programme in Rural Colombia.” _Centre for the Evaluationof Development Policies of the Institute for Fiscal Studies_ , no. EWP04/06.

- Barros, Ricardo P., Pedro Olinto, Trine Lunde, and Mirela Carvalho. 2011. “The Impact of Access to Free Childcare on Women’s Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Low-Income Neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro.” In , 21. Washington, D.C.

> 19 Since these policies are very new, this reference will be updated with an appropriate policy brief.

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