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on Africa |
| By: | Nephthali Cibangu; Manasse Mulunda; Ishara Musimwa; Jean-Paul K. Tsasa |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cvi:wpaper:2026-002-02 |
| By: | Eleonora Guarnieri; Ana Tur-Prats |
| Abstract: | Why do some cultures go extinct while others prevail? In this paper, we show that a society's risk of cultural extinction, proxied by language loss, is shaped by its ancestral gender norms and by how these norms differ from those of competing cultures. Using the Ethnologue and the Male Dominance Index for a global sample of languages, we start by showing that languages from more gender-equal societies face a higher likelihood of extinction than those from male-dominant societies. We propose a conceptual framework in which male-dominant societies are more expansionist via two channels: (i) military capacity sustained through surplus extraction, and (ii) demographic pressure through women's specialization in domestic and reproductive labor. As a result, they expand at the expense of more gender-egalitarian groups. We test this prediction in two empirical settings. Leveraging European colonization as a natural experiment, we find that Indigenous societies with more gender-equal norms than their colonizers are more vulnerable to cultural extinction. We examine alternative pre-colonial societal arrangements and find that cultural extinction is best explained by asymmetries in male dominance rather than in hierarchy or dominance more broadly. Exploiting local variation in neighboring groups' gender structure across Africa, we further show that languages from gender-egalitarian societies are less likely to survive in grid cells located close to male-dominant neighbors, with military capacity and population pressure predicting language expansion across the continent. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, language extinction, gender norms, Inter-group contact |
| JEL: | Z10 O10 F54 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12968 |
| By: | Jean-Paul K. Tsasa |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cvi:wpaper:2026-002-01 |
| By: | Arlette Simo Fotso (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques, CEPED - Centre Population et Développement - INED - Institut national d'études démographiques - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UPD5 - Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5); Jacob Martin (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Florian Bonnet (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques) |
| Abstract: | The World Health Organization estimates that that the highest prevalence of disability among individuals below age 60 years is observed in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, knowledge of disability remains limited in the region, which is partly due to the lack of robust and comparable measurements of disability. In Sub-Saharan Africa, sub-national and comparable estimates of disability prevalence are limited.This paper aims to use comparable sources of data to estimate and construct an atlas of sub-regional disability prevalence. We take data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) which use the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) short set of questions, which is designed to be a 'culturally neutral' disability screening tool. The questionnaire assesses limitations across six functional domains (seeing, hearing, walking, cognition, communication and self-care). We have data for a total of 26 Sub-Saharan African countries which were collected between 2016 and 2022. We aim to estimate the age-specific prevalence of functional limitation in the population aged 15-49 at the second subnational administrative division level in each country. Given the instability of direct estimates at the subnational level, we use recently developed small area estimation techniques that borrow strength over age and space. From our estimates we compute age standardized prevalences of limitation to facilitate comparison between regions and countries. Preliminary results show large heterogeneity between and within countries, but the amount of within-country differences varies from country to country. |
| Date: | 2025–09–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05458456 |
| By: | Chang, Wei; Ebrahim, Menaal Fatima; Gulesci, Selim; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; Jagun, Fatima Adenike; Rouanet, Lea Marie |
| Abstract: | Educational attainment among adolescent girls in Nigeria remains low, particularly in the northern states where early marriage and limited schooling constrain women's economic opportunities. This study evaluates whether school-based life skills training delivered in safe spaces within senior secondary schools, alone or combined with digital literacy training, can improve educational, health, and economic outcomes for adolescent girls in northern Nigeria. Twelve months post-intervention, girls in treated schools show modest improvements in curriculum-related knowledge, with no effects on school retention or socio-emotional skills. Adding digital literacy training improved digital skills in the state where it had been fully implemented by midline, underscoring the role of implementation fidelity. These findings highlight both the promise and limitations of integrated school-based interventions and underscore the importance of delivery capacity for scaling technology-based programs in low-resource settings. |
| Date: | 2026–09–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11445 |