How Much Are Citizens Really Willing to Pay for Childcare? Evidence from a Conjoint Analysis in a German City

This paper studies citizens’ willingness to pay for childcare services, employing original survey data from a conjoint analysis in a medium-sized Germany city. Existing scholarship on public support for childcare spending most likely overestimates willingness to pay, because traditional survey methods do not take into account budget limitations in a sufficient manner. Conjoint analyses provide a more reliable estimate of citizens’ willingness to pay. Our first major finding is that citizens in our sample are indeed willing to pay substantial fees for childcare services. Furthermore, we find that citizens think it’s fair to take into individual circumstances when assessing a „fair“ level of fees. In particular, high-income citizens are expected to pay more as are individuals with family support in childcare, whereas citizens think it’s fair if single parents pay lower fees. We do not find evidence for an effect of religious or ethnic background on the perceived level of fair fees.