This book investigates the relationship between the availability of public childcare for children under age three and the decision to have a first child. One would expect that childcare reconciles work and family and thus positively affects childbearing. However, the existing research results on this relationship are inconsistent. Based on individual level datasets for Germany and Sweden, the book analyzes two research questions. First, it focuses on who makes use of public childcare for children under three years of age. Secondly, it assesses how childcare policies shape first birth...