ERIC Number: ED661422
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Jul
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
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Intergenerational Impacts of Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana. Working Paper 32742
Esther Duflo; Pascaline Dupas; Elizabeth Spelke; Mark P. Walsh
National Bureau of Economic Research
We provide experimental evidence on the intergenerational impacts of secondary education subsidies in a low-income context, leveraging a randomized controlled trial and 15-year longitudinal follow-up. For young women, receiving a scholarship for secondary school delays childbearing and marriage, and reduces unwanted pregnancies. Female scholarship recipients are more likely to marry a partner with tertiary education and their children have better early childhood development outcomes. In particular, we document a 45% reduction in under-three mortality as well as cognitive development gains of 0.25 standard deviations of test scores once children are of school age. The primary mechanism seems to be that more-educated caregivers have the knowledge and skills to safeguard their children's health and stimulate their cognitive development. In contrast, we find no evidence of a positive impact for the children of male scholarship recipients, who tend to marry less educated partners. Together, these results suggest a key role for maternal education in child outcomes. We also estimate the cost-benefit ratio for secondary school scholarships and find that the impact on child survival alone is sufficient to make them a highly cost-effective investment. [Additional funding for this study was provided by the JPAL Post-Primary Education Initiative and USAID-DIV.]
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Secondary Education, Scholarships, Program Effectiveness, Secondary School Students, Females, Educational Attainment, Pregnancy, Marriage, Child Development, Child Health, Males, Cost Effectiveness
National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
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Language: English
Sponsor: The British Academy
Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Identifiers - Location: Ghana
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