Abstract
Previous evidence on universal child care and child development is limited to short-run outcomes and the findings are mixed. We analyze the introduction of subsidized, universally accessible child care in Norway, addressing the impact on the long-run outcomes of children with married mothers. Our precise difference-in-difference estimates show that child care had strong positive effects on children's educational attainment and labor market participation, and also reduced welfare dependency. 17,500 new child care places produces around 6,000 additional years of education. In line with these results, we find that children exposed to child care delay child bearing and family formation as adults. Sub-sample estimations suggest that good access to subsidized child care levels the playing field, increasing intergenerational mobility and closing the gender wage gap. A battery of robustness checks support our empirical strategy.