Colonial origin, ethnicity and intergenerational mobility in Africa

Abstract

• Parental ethnicity is vital to intergenerational education mobility in Africa. • Colonial ethnic administrative styles may be key in understanding differences in mobility between countries. • Effect of ethnicity is more important for mobility in former British than French colonies. • Importance of ethnicity for mobility has declined over successive birth cohorts. This paper examines the relationship between an individual’s human capital and that of their parents’ ethnic group in former British and French colonies in Africa. Using pooled cross-sectional data from eight African countries, four former French colonies (Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger) and four former British colonies (Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda), we find large effects of parental ethnicity on individuals’ human capital. Our results show that colonial origin may be important in understanding intergenerational mobility in African countries via its effect on ethnic relations. Ethnic capital has a persistent effect. This effect, which could be attributed to differences in administration styles adopted during the colonial period, is higher in former British than former French colonies. Birth cohort regression analysis further shows that the ethnic effect has declined across cohorts in former British colonies while remaining comparatively static in former French colonies. Our results are robust to the use of different estimation techniques.