Education, Preferences, and Household Welfare.

Using census data from Nepal, we examine how the marginal effects of male and female education on various household welfare indicators vary with education levels. Parental education is associated with better household outcomes, but marginal effects vary with education level. Higher child survival...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fafchamps, M, Shilpi, F
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: CSAE (University of Oxford) 2011
Description
Summary:Using census data from Nepal, we examine how the marginal effects of male and female education on various household welfare indicators vary with education levels. Parental education is associated with better household outcomes, but marginal effects vary with education level. Higher child survival for instace, is associated with higher primary education for mothers and higher secondary education for fathers. We calculate conditional marginal effects that correct for assortative matching of spouses and compare them to unconditional estimates. The two differ because mother and father education are partial substitutes. We also show that the marginal effects of education have fallen over time while education levels were rising. Using the relative scarcity of women in the marriage market as proxy for the weight of female preferences in household choices, we find that educated mothers prefer better educated children, but also prefer their children to work, possibly because they are more likely to work themselves.