Defamilization typology revisited: Is the state or the market the driving force behind childcare defamilization?

This study employs fuzzy set analysis to categorize childcare policies across 19 OECD member countries, emphasizing defamilization strategies focusing on policy tool mixes. It investigates whether these strategies are state-centered or market-centered by analyzing the directness of funding, service creation, and the coerciveness of quality regulations. Key variables include the co-payment proportion of dual-income families, public preschool utilization rates, and monitoring intensity of childcare services, with women’s employment rates as the outcome. The analysis identifies six childcare service models based on government involvement and market dynamics, revealing that women’s employment rates tend to be higher when childcare services are predominantly market-driven. This suggests that market forces play a significant role in the defamilization of childcare, particularly as women’s participation in the labor market grows.