Table 5 Models with GDP per capita as a control variable

Fixed part (country-level)

Fixed part (country-level)

Salary of staff working in pre-schools (10 years experience)

0.015 (0.010)

− 0.036° (0.018)

− 0.001 (0.016)

Public spending per 0–5 year-olds in care and education

0.024** (0.008)

0.031° (0.015)

0.047** (0.015)

GDP per capita in PPS (divided by 1000)

0.079* (0.028)

0.175*** (0.030)

GDP per capita in PPS (divided by 1000)

− 0.018 (0.022)

0.043 (0.033)

Salary* GDP per capita

− 0.001*** (0.0003)

Public spending* GDP per capita

− 0.0009* (0.0004)

Random part

Random part

Level 1 individuals (residual variance)

4.667*** (0.093)

4.611*** (0.093)

4.610*** (0.093)

Level 1 individuals (residual variance)

4.627*** (0.085)

4.579*** (0.085)

4.579*** (0.085)

Level 2 countries (intercept variance)

0.533** (0.177)

0.305** (0.107)

0.142** (0.051)

Level 2 countries (intercept variance)

0.318** (0.097)

0.236** (0.078)

0.186** (0.062)

Model fit statistics

Model fit statistics

Deviance (− 2LL)

22,075.561

21,442.892

21,429.158

Deviance (− 2LL)

26,019.304

25,391.301

25,386.524

Change in deviance (Δ − 2LL)

11,355.547

632.669

13.734

Change in deviance (Δ − 2LL)

7411.804

628.003

4.777

Nr of estimated parameters

13

14

15

Nr of estimated parameters

13

14

15

Change in nr of estd parameters

1

1

1

Change in nr of estd parameters

1

1

1

Intra-class correlation (%)

10.26

6.21

2.99

Intra-class correlation (%)

6.43

4.91

3.91

Sample size

Sample size

Level-1, n

4469

4350

4350

Level-1, n

5273

5154

5154

Level-2, n

20

19

19

Level-2, n

22

21

21