MARKET FAILURE - ESTIMATING INEQUALITY IN PRESCHOOL AVAILABILITY

Activists within education and family-policy circles are debating two questions: Is the overall availability of preschools and child-care ce nters sufficient, and is supply distributed equitably? These issues gr ow more salient as demands on an already fragile preschool ''system'' intensify: Head Start spending has climbed rising interest in ''school readiness'' prompts concern over preschool distribution and quality, and welfare reform will boost enrollment pressure. We report on two st udies that employ differing levels of analysis to better understand th e distribution of preschool availability. Study I examines distributio n among 100 counties nationwide, revealing clear inequalities in avail ability associated with county wealth and demographic features. Study 2 analyzes zip-code-level data for Massachusetts, showing more similar levels of supply in low-income and affluent neighborhoods. In between we find lower availability in working-class and some middle-income co mmunities. Together the two studies show that the degree of distributi onal equity varies among states and locales, conditioned by levels of household income, parental education, family structure, and the surrou nding policy environment. Assertive government action has yielded prog ress toward distributional equity. Carefully targeted efforts to reduc e access inequality also would conserve resources to help improve pres chool quality.