This article examines inequalities in the spatial accessibility of childcare between high- and low-status neighbourhoods in the city of Vienna and asks (i) whether specific public and non-profit provider types contribute to these inequalities and (ii) which factors may cause these inequalities in a mainly tax-funded childcare system. For our analysis, we combine data on the location and characteristics of childcare providers with spatially granular information on demand and neighbourhood characteristics. The results show that two provider types – church-related and independent non-profit providers – are mainly responsible for the higher accessibility of childcare in neighbourhoods with higher socio-economic status. Specifically independent providers charge significantly higher prices and offer more special services in these high-status areas. Public funding of a large part of the production costs, therefore, seems insufficient to ensure equal access in all neighbourhoods. These findings suggest that the exclusive comparison between public, private non-profit and private for-profit providers often found in the literature may be too narrow.

中文翻译：

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城市中儿童保育机会不平等：平等的公共资金是否足够？


本文研究了维也纳市高地位社区和低地位社区之间儿童保育空间可达性的不平等，并询问 (i) 特定的公共和非营利提供者类型是否会导致这些不平等，以及 (ii) 哪些因素可能导致这些不平等主要由税收资助的儿童保育系统中的不平等。在我们的分析中，我们将有关托儿服务提供者的位置和特征的数据与有关需求和社区特征的空间粒度信息结合起来。结果表明，两种提供者类型——与教会相关的提供者和独立的非营利提供者——是社会经济地位较高的社区获得较高儿童保育机会的主要原因。特别是独立提供商收取更高的价格，并在这些地位较高的领域提供更多特殊服务。因此，大部分生产成本的公共资金似乎不足以确保所有社区的平等机会。这些发现表明，文献中经常发现的公共、私人非营利性和私人营利性提供商之间的排他性比较可能过于狭窄。