|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2016‒02‒29
twenty-six papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Runu Bhakta (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | Given the fact that education of young adults plays crucial role from both economic and social point of view, the objective of the study is to analyse the pattern of improvements in their education and to identify the factors that explain the rate of increase in educational indicators per year. Educational achievement is captured through literacy rate, percentage of population completed higher education and the average years of schooling. The study finds that significant disparities still prevail across gender, regions and rural-urban areas although the gap is reducing over time. Per capita public expenditure in different levels of education has increased monotonously but there prevails consistent spatial variation in the allocation pattern. The estimated models of the annual increase in those education indicators reveal the fact that social status still plays a crucial role in the society in determining actual progress in educational outcomes. The share of expenditure in higher education is an important factor for achieving greater percentage of population completed higher education. But expenditure on adult education does not have significant impact on literacy rate. Share of GSDP in industry and services, and percentage of registered manufacturing are identified as demand pull factors that encourage more education. Besides, percentage of rural households with irrigation facility is important to have better progress in education sector possibly via its impact on improving rural livelihood. |
| Keywords: | Education, Human Capital, Young Adults, Public Expenditure on Education |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2015-034&r=edu |
| By: | Maciej Jakubowski |
| Abstract: | Poland is one of the few European countries that achieved strong improvement of student performance over the last decade. According to the OECD PISA results Poland moved from below to above the OECD average and now is close to top-performing countries. The score improvements are a consequence of Polish education system reform introduced in 1999. The most important change of the 1999 reform was an extension of comprehensive education by one year. The evidence suggests the change immediately benefited student, while the remaining elements of the reform are probably responsible for the gradual improvement. The differences between secondary schools were largely limited. Introduction of nation-wide comparable exams, conducted at the end of every stage of education, played a crucial role in assuring quality in education system. Poland also increased support for the preschool education and further expanded the general curriculum in vocational schools. The result of all reforms was the expansion of obligatory comprehensive education from 8 years to at least 10 years now. |
| Keywords: | education reform, student performance, Poland |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:ppaper:pp012015&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | A new OECD report, Supporting Teacher Professionalism, based on the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), conceptualises teacher professionalism as being comprised of: knowledge base, defined as necessary knowledge for teaching; autonomy, defined as teachers’ decision-making over aspects related to their work; and peer networks, defined as opportunities for information exchange and support needed to maintain high standards of teaching. Education systems differ in terms of the emphasis placed on each of the teacher professionalism domains. Across all systems there is a particularly positive relationship between knowledge and peer network domains and teacher satisfaction, self-efficacy and perceptions of the value of the teaching profession in the society. Practices supporting teacher professionalism are less common in schools with higher proportions of socio-economically disadvantaged students. However, investing in teacher professionalism can be particularly beneficial in these schools as the positive relationship between knowledge, peer networks and teacher satisfaction is amplified in challenging schools. |
| Date: | 2016–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaah:14-en&r=edu |
| By: | Santosh Kumar (Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University) |
| Abstract: | Using large nationally representative data, I estimate the effect of birth order on educational outcomes of children in India. To establish causality, endogeneity of family size is addressed by approaching an instrumental variable method. Employing a district fixed effects model and proportion of boys in the family as the instrument for number of children, I show that later-born children attain higher education compared to earlier-born children. Results are robust to inclusion of child, parents, and household characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Birth order; family size; education; India |
| JEL: | D1 I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shs:wpaper:1605&r=edu |
| By: | Benjamin Faber; Rosa Sanchis-Guarner; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | Governments are making it a priority to upgrade information and communication technologies (ICT) with the aim to increase available internet connection speeds. This paper presents a new empirical strategy to estimate the causal effects of these policies, and applies it to the questions of whether and how ICT upgrades affect educational attainment. We draw on a rich collection of microdata that allows us to link administrative test score records for the population of English primary and secondary school students to the available ICT at their home addresses. To base estimations on exogenous variation in ICT, we notice that the boundaries of usually invisible telephone exchange station catchment areas give rise to substantial and essentially randomly placed jumps in the available ICT across neighboring residences. Using this design across more than 20,000 boundaries in England, we find that even very large changes in available broadband connection speeds have a precisely estimated zero effect on educational attainment. Guided by a simple model we then bring to bear additional microdata on student time and internet use to quantify the potentially opposing mechanisms underlying the zero reduced form effect. While jumps in the available ICT appear to increase student consumption of online content, we find no significant effects on student time spent studying online or offline, or on their learning productivity. |
| Keywords: | education; information and communication technology; internet |
| JEL: | D83 I20 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:65020&r=edu |
| By: | Isa E. Hafalir; Rustamdjan Hakimov; Dorothea Kübler; Morimitsu Kurino |
| Abstract: | We study a college admissions problem in which colleges accept students by ranking students’ efforts in entrance exams. Students’ ability levels affect the cost of their efforts. We solve and compare the equilibria of “centralized college admissions” (CCA) where students apply to all colleges and “decentralized college admissions” (DCA) where students only apply to one college. We show that lower ability students prefer DCA whereas higher ability students prefer CCA. Many predictions of the theory are supported by a lab experiment designed to test the theory, yet we find a number of differences that render DCA less attractive than CCA compared to the equilibrium benchmark. |
| Keywords: | College admissions, incomplete information, student welfare, contests, all-pay auctions, experiment. |
| JEL: | C78 D78 I21 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2016-003&r=edu |
| By: | Garces-Voisenat, Juan-Pedro |
| Abstract: | One of the most important determinants of the distribution of income and life opportunities is education. Increasing levels of formal schooling have contributed to raise standards of living and eradicate extreme poverty worldwide in recent decades. However, inequality in the distribution of income –which is the single most important indicator of relative access to material well-being- remains stubbornly high in most regions of the world. In this paper, I focus on two countries, Chile and Norway, which have very different educational systems, and follow the same analytical methodology of Schütz et al (2008) to detect differences in equality of opportunity between the two countries. In a slight variation, the family-background effect here is represented by a larger number of variables –including household income-, in order to pinpoint the specific characteristics that it comprises in each country. Surprisingly, I find that the family-background effect is stronger in Norway than in Chile, which would denote a potential higher inequality. However the higher achievement inequality in Chile is determined by other factors, which need urgent reform. |
| Keywords: | Chile, Norway, education, inequality, equality of opportunity |
| JEL: | I2 I24 I25 O1 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:68887&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Stimpfle; David Stadelmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of female age at marriage on female education and educational gender inequality. We provide empirical evidence that early female marriage age significantly decreases female education with panel data from 1980 to 2010. Socio-cultural customs serve as an exogenous identification for female age at marriage. We also show that effects of spousal age gaps between men and women significantly affect female education relative to male education. Each additional year between husband and wife reduces the female secondary schooling completion rate by 14 percentage points, the time women spend at university by 6 weeks, and overall affects female education significantly more negatively than male education. We also document that marriage age and conventional measures of gender discrimination do not act as substitutes. |
| Keywords: | Marriage age; spousal age gap; female education; gender inequality |
| JEL: | J12 J16 I24 O47 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2016-02&r=edu |
| By: | Jake Anders |
| Abstract: | Young people from less advantaged backgrounds are less likely to enter a “professional” job on leaving university (Macmillan et al., 2013). However, this does not tell us about the performance of those who do. This paper considers the relative salary growth of graduates that secure a high-status job by both parental occupational status and school type, using data from a recent survey of English graduates. Using non-parametric techniques and regression modelling, I estimate the relationship between these measures of socio-economic status and pay progression in a “professional” job. I find no evidence of a pay growth differential by parents' occupational status but do find faster pay growth among those that attended a private school, even once I control for a range of background characteristics. Conversely, I find that individuals from state school backgrounds are just as likely to remain in high-status jobs at this early stage of their careers. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:453&r=edu |
| By: | Sprietsma, Maresa |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of student employment on academic performance. Performance is measured by grades achieved one and a half years after entering university. We use the amount of financial aid students receive after application as a source of exogenous variation in the probability or being employed to correct for potential endogeneity bias. We find no evidence that student employment is detrimental to academic performance, even for a larger number of hours worked per week. There is significant selection of students into different types of student employment. |
| Keywords: | student employment,academic achievement,tertiary education |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:15085&r=edu |
| By: | Caroline M. Hoxby; George B. Bulman |
| Abstract: | The federal tax deduction for tuition potentially increases investments in postsecondary education at minimal administrative cost. We assess whether it actually does this using regression discontinuity methods on the income cutoffs that govern eligibility for the deduction. Although many eligible households take nearly the maximum deduction allowed, we find no evidence that it affects attending college (at all), attending full- versus part-time, attending four- versus two-year college, the resources experienced in college, the amount paid for college, or student loans. Our analysis suggests that the deduction's inefficacy may be due to issues of salience, timing, and the method of receipt. We argue that the deduction might increase college-going if it were modified in simple ways that would not increase costs but would make it more likely to relax liquidity constraints and be perceived as a price change (which they is) as opposed to an income change. We outline how such modifications could be tested. This study has independent applied econometrics interest because households who would be just above a cut-off manage their incomes so that they fall slightly below it. This income management generates bias due to reverse causality, and we explore how to choose "doughnut-holes" that avoid bias without undue loss of statistical power. |
| JEL: | C21 H2 H24 H26 I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoo:wpaper:15114&r=edu |
| By: | Schmeiser, Maximilian D. (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)); Stoddard, Christiana (Montana State University); Urban, Carly (Montana State University) |
| Abstract: | While rising student loan debt can plague college students future finances, few federal programs have been instituted to educate college students on the mechanics of student loan borrowing. This paper exploits a natural experiment in which some students received "Know Your Debt" letters with incentivized offers for one-on-one financial counseling. Montana State University students who reached a specific debt threshold received these letters; University of Montana students did not. We use a difference-in-difference-in-differences strategy to compare students above and below the thresholds across campuses and before and after the intervention to determine how the letters affect student behavior. Employing a rich administrative dataset on individual-level academic records and financial aid packages, we find that students receiving the letters borrow an average of $1,360, less in the subsequent semester--a reduction of one-third. This does not adversely affect their academic performance. In fact, those who receive the intervention take more credits and have higher GPAs in the subsequent semester. |
| Keywords: | financial counseling; financial education; financial literacy; higher education; student loans |
| Date: | 2015–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2015-75&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | No country or economy participating in PISA 2012 can claim that all of its 15-year-old students have achieved basic proficiency skills in mathematics, reading and science. Some 28% of students score below the baseline level of proficiency in at least one of those subjects, on average across OECD countries. Poor performance at age 15 is not the result of any single risk factor, but rather of a combination and accumulation of various barriers and disadvantages that affect students throughout their lives. Students attending schools where teachers are more supportive, have better morale and have higher expectations for students are less likely to be low performers in mathematics, even after accounting for the socio-economic status of students and schools. |
| Date: | 2016–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:60-en&r=edu |
| By: | Claude Diebolt; Audrey-Rose Menard; Faustine Perrin |
| Abstract: | The education-fertility relationship is a central element of the models explaining the transition to sustained economic growth. In this paper, we use a three-stages least squares estimator to disentangle the causality direction of this relationship. Controlling for a wide array of socio-economic, cultural, and geographical determinants, our cliometric contribution on French counties during the nineteenth century corroborates the existence of a single negative causal link from fertility to education. We put forward the hypothesis that in France a decrease in fertility is strongly associated to greater schooling. |
| Keywords: | Education, Family, Fertility, Growth Theory, Nineteenth-Century, France. |
| JEL: | N33 O10 I25 J13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2016-10&r=edu |
| By: | Ira Nichols-Barrer; Philip Gleason; Brian Gill; Christina Clark Tuttle |
| Abstract: | Skeptics of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter school network argue that these schools rely on selective admission, attrition, and replacement of students to produce positive achievement results. |
| Keywords: | school choice, charter schools, attrition, KIPP |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2016–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:566f055483bf4ded8fc98473fe4b817a&r=edu |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Jens Ruhose; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | Although many U.S. state policies presume that human capital is important for state economic development, there is little research linking better education to state incomes. In a complement to international studies of income differences, we investigate the extent to which quality-adjusted measures of human capital can explain within-country income differences. We develop detailed measures of state human capital based on school attainment from census micro data and on cognitive skills from state- and country-of-origin achievement tests. Partitioning current state workforces into state locals, interstate migrants, and immigrants, we adjust achievement scores for selective migration. We use the new human capital measures in development accounting analyses calibrated with standard production parameters. We find that differences in human capital account for 20-35 percent of the current variation in per-capita GDP among states, with roughly even contributions by school attainment and cognitive skills. Similar results emerge from growth accounting analyses. |
| JEL: | I25 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoo:wpaper:15112&r=edu |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Guido Schwerdt; Ludger Woessmann; Lei Zhang |
| Abstract: | Policy proposals promoting vocational education focus on the school-to-work transition. But with technological change, gains in youth employment may be offset by less adaptability and diminished employment later in life. To test for this trade-off, we employ a difference-in-differences approach that compares employment rates across different ages for people with general and vocational education. Using micro data for 11 countries from IALS, we find strong and robust support for such a trade-off, especially in countries emphasizing apprenticeship programs. German Microcensus data and Austrian administrative data confirm the results for within-occupational-group analysis and for exogenous variation from plant closures, respectively. |
| JEL: | J24 J64 J31 I20 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoo:wpaper:15113&r=edu |
| By: | Goncharova, Lyudmila Ivanovna (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | Need of development of new model of financing for three types of the municipal organizations of the general education locates in article: state, budgetary, autonomous. On the basis of the analysis of distinctions in a legal status (status) and an economic situation of the organizations of the general education, features of the mechanism of the budgetary and off-budget financing are revealed. It is proved that the modern funding mechanism is directly connected with quality of the educational services rendered by the organizations of the general education. |
| Keywords: | state, budgetary, autonomous organizations of education; per capita financing; subsidy; budgetary and off-budget financing; state task |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:gorpc1&r=edu |
| By: | Foroogh Nazari Chamaki (Department of Banking and Finance, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus); Glenn P. Jenkins (Queen’s University, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | Traditional approaches to public policy increasingly fail to resolve social challenges, particularly in the field of criminal justice. High rates of juvenile recidivism, for example, are often linked to inequality in education and persistent, long-term unemployment—factors which, while complex, are nonetheless conducive to preventative strategies. Social impact bonds (SIBs) are ‘pay-for-success’ programs that attract private-sector, upfront funding for social interventions. If the program achieves agreed targets, taxpayer funds repay the investor. If the program fails to meet agreed targets, investors take the loss. This innovative form social finance through public-private partnership (PPP) has helped spur efficiencies and improvements in the provision and outcomes of criminal justice services. However, the success of a SIB depends on careful implementation, evaluation and monitoring. |
| Keywords: | Pay-for-success, social service, social impact bond (SIB), public-private partnership (PPP), social finance, service provider. |
| JEL: | H53 A13 L33 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:286&r=edu |
| By: | Bertrand Guillotin (Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)); Vincent Mangematin (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)) |
| Abstract: | Business school strategy has become more complex than ever, especially regarding internationalization. Using different paths, experiencing failure and success, business schools have internationalized, attracting many of the international students who contributed $27 billion 2 to the US economy in 2014. Some business schools are global, training global managers, others are more focused on national markets. How do business schools strategize about internationalization? Can we use existing models to explain this process? Are internationalization and globalization similar? Using a comparative analysis of six case studies in the US and Europe, we found that the engine of internationalization influences its paths and outcomes. We contribute to the body of IB research by discussing how business schools strategize their internationalization toward uniformity or diversity under isomorphic pressures from accreditation bodies (AACSB, 2011) and rankings. The so-called Uppsala model should be 1 Acknowledgements: the authors would like to thank two anonymous and rigorous TIBR reviewers for their detailed and useful feedback, as well as Prof. Richard M. Burton, professor emeritus of organization and strategy (Duke University), for his pertinent comments and continuous support. Also, we acknowledge that some of the findings in this paper were presented at peer-reviewed colloquia (EGOS 2013 and EGOS 2014). 2 Institute for International Education, Open Doors Data, http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Economic-Impact-of-International-Students 2 extended to deal with three tensions: internationalization vs. globalization, enacted dimensions of audiences, and respective risks of different internationalization pathways. |
| Keywords: | business schools, disruptions, internationalization, globalization, strategies, knowledge |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-01265950&r=edu |
| By: | Cockx, Lara; Francken, Nathalie |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to a new line of research in the resource curse literature that addresses the link between resource wealth and fiscal policy by empirically investigating the relationship between natural resource dependence and public education spending. Using a large panel dataset of world countries covering the period from 1995 to 2009, we find robust evidence of a public education spending resource curse. The adverse effect of natural resource dependence on public education expenditures relative to GDP remains significant after controlling for additional covariates such as income, aid, and the age structure of the population. Our results further confirm the existence of indirect effects of resource dependence through a deterioration of government accountability and the crowding-out of more skilled-labour intensive sectors in the economy. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the resource curse effect on the government prioritization of education mainly stems from point-source natural resources. Our results have important implications for managing natural resource wealth in developing countries, as they could achieve particularly high returns by investing resource revenues in public goods such as education. While this paper underlines the importance of institutions and government accountability, our results also raise questions on the role of the extractives industry. The oil, gas and mining industry should consider increasing funding for education through Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in this sector or through other innovative channels of development finance. |
| Keywords: | education spending |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iob:wpaper:201502&r=edu |
| By: | Colombelli, Alessandra (Politecnico di Torino); Krafft, Jackie (GREDEG-CNRS); Vivarelli, Marco (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the reasons why entry per se is not necessarily good and the evidence showing that innovative startups survive longer than their non-innovative counterparts. In this framework, our own empirical analysis shows that greater survival is achieved when startups engage successfully in both product innovation and process innovation, with a key role of the latter. Moreover, this study goes beyond a purely microeconomic perspective and discusses the key role of the environment within which innovative entries occur. What is shown and discussed in this contribution strongly supports the proposal that the creation and survival of innovative start-ups should become one qualifying point of the economic policy agenda. |
| Keywords: | innovation, startups, survival, product innovation, process innovation |
| JEL: | L26 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9733&r=edu |
| By: | Florentino Felgueroso |
| Abstract: | In this second report of New Skills at Work we take stock of the participation of adults in lifelong learning in Spain. The report is divided in three parts. The first part of the report provides a descriptive analysis of the evidence on cognitive skills of the adult working population in Spain. The analysis confirms a well-known finding: despite major improvements in the educational attainments of the working population in the last few decades, the average level of cognitive skills remains low by international standards. In particular, Spain stands out as one of the EU countries with the largest share of adults who lack basic skills and competences. This is relevant for several reasons. The labour market position of this group has been deteriorating since the late 1970s, although this trend was temporarily interrupted during the period of the housing boom, and the digitalization of the economy is bound to place further pressure on this group in the near future. The report identifies three dimensions to the problem that deserve careful attention from Spanish policy makers: 1) Low average educational attainments; 2) Unsustainably high dropout rates from secondary education and 3) Comparatively low levels of cognitive skills at all educational levels. On all three scores Spain should strive for convergence to the levels prevailing in the leading countries in Europe. |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2016-08&r=edu |
| By: | Yuta Kikuchi (GISS, Yokohama National University); Ryo Nakajima (Faculty of Economics, Keio University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a professor's value added to a postgraduate student's research achievement growth using unique panel data on matched advisor-advisee pairs in a world-leading physics graduate program. To address an identification problem related to the endogenous selection of advisors and advisees, we use professor turnover and estimate a semi-parametric lower bound of the variance in advisor quality affecting advisee research performance. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in professor quality results in a 0.54 standard deviation increase in a doctoral student's research achievement growth, increasing the number of first-authored papers that are published in top journals by 0.64 at the doctoral level. |
| Keywords: | knowledge creation, postgraduate education, faculty quality, research apprenticeship |
| JEL: | D83 I23 J24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2016-002&r=edu |
| By: | Patrick Gaule; Mario Piacentini |
| Abstract: | Immigration is rapidly changing the composition of the R&D workforce in the United States. We study here Chinese chemists and chemical engineers who migrate to the United States for their graduate studies. We analyze productivity at the individual researcher level, thus bypassing the identification issues that earlier studies had to confront when analyzing the relationship between immigration and innovation at the university or firm level. Using new data and measurement techniques, we find robust evidence that Chinese students make disproportionate contributions to the scientific output of their advisors and departments. We attribute this result to a selection effect as it is relatively more difficult for Chinese students to gain admission to U.S. PhD programs. Our results strengthen the case for liberal student migration policies. |
| Keywords: | high-skilled migration; students; universities; China; |
| JEL: | F22 I23 O15 O33 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp529&r=edu |
| By: | Josselin Thuilliez (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Hippolyte d'Albis (Paris School of Economics - Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Hamidou Niangaly (Malaria Research and Training Center - University of Bamako); Ogobara Doumbo (Malaria Research and Training Center - University of Bamako) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the influence of malaria on human capital accumulation in the village of Diankabou in Mali. To account for malaria endogeneity and its interaction with unobservable risk factors, we exploit natural variations in malaria immunity across individuals of several sympatric ethnic groups – the Fulani and the non-Fulani – who differ in their susceptibility to malaria. The Fulani are known to be less susceptible to malaria infections, despite living with a similar malaria transmission intensity to those seen among other ethnic groups. We also use natural variation of malaria intensity in the area (during and after the malaria transmission season) and utilize this seasonal change as a treatment. We find that malaria has an impact on cognitive and educational outcomes in this village. We discuss the implications of this result for human capital investments and fertility decisions with the help of a quantity-quality model |
| Keywords: | Malaria; Immunity; Education; Cognition; Fertility |
| JEL: | O12 I15 I25 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:16009&r=edu |