Abstract
This paper examines the effects of maternal autonomy on child schooling outcomes in Ethiopia using a nationally representative Ethiopian Demographic and Health survey for 2011. The empirical strategy uses a Hurdle Negative Binomial Regression model to estimate years of schooling. An ordered probit model is also estimated to examine age grade distortion using a trichotomous dependent variable that captures three states of child schooling. The large sample size and the range of questions available in this dataset allow us to explore the influence of individual and household level social, economic and cultural factors on child schooling. The analysis finds statistically significant effects of maternal autonomy variables on child schooling in Ethiopia. The roles of maternal autonomy and other household-level factors on child schooling are important issues in Ethiopia, where health and education outcomes are poor for large segments of the population.
Highlights
Investment in schooling is an important means of improving economic growth and wellbeing
This paper examines the effects of maternal autonomy on child schooling outcomes in Ethiopia using a nationally representative Ethiopian Demographic and Health survey for 2011
We examine the effect of maternal autonomy on child schooling outcomes in Ethiopia using a nationally representative dataset from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
Summary
Investment in schooling is an important means of improving economic growth and wellbeing. Because schooling investments are typically made at the household level, poor households must make decisions about the optimum allocation of scarce resources towards child schooling. In addition to economic factors, a range of child specific characteristics, such as the child’s gender, birth order, and the number and sex composition of their siblings, become important considerations in schooling decisions [7, 8]. This paper analyses the importance of women’s autonomy on child schooling decisions at the household level. Women are typically the primary caregivers for children, which puts them in a unique position to influence the well-being of children by investing in their nutrition, health and education. DasGupta and Mani (2015) [14] established that women are often the more altruistic
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