The Impact of Ethiopian Productive Safety-Net Program on Children's Educational Aspirations

Abstract

Children’s educational aspirations are important predictors of educational attainment and of occupational success. However, aspirations can be affected by whether an individual is poor or rich. This paper evaluates the impacts of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), launched by the government of Ethiopia in 2005/06 to support food insecure rural households, on children’s educational aspirations. Using longitudinal data from the Young Lives’ survey in Ethiopia and applying a differences-in-differences methodology, we find that the program increases educational aspirations of children. In our preferred specification, the immediate effect of the program is to increase by 0.73 years of education aspirations of children. Furthermore, we find that aspirations are affected also in the long run, even if the point estimates are sensible to model specification. The results point to broad and long lasting positive effects of a program designed to relieve chronically poor households from food insecurity.