Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability

Using data collected in rural Burkina Faso, this paper examines how children's cognitive abilities influence households' decisions to invest in their education. To address the endogeneity of child ability measures, the analysis uses rainf...

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Main Authors: Akresh, Richard, Bagby, Emilie, de Walque, Damien, Kazianga, Harounan
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120209150137
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3250
id okr-10986-3250
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-32502021-04-23T14:02:08Z Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability Akresh, Richard Bagby, Emilie de Walque, Damien Kazianga, Harounan ACCOUNT ACHIEVEMENT ACHIEVEMENT TESTS AVERAGE SCORE BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT BIRTH HISTORY BIRTH ORDER CHILD DEVELOPMENT CHILD HEALTH CHILD LABOR CHILD NUTRITION CHILDREN UNDER AGE CHILDRENS EDUCATION COGNITIVE ABILITY COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT COGNITIVE TESTS EARLY CHILDHOOD EARLY CHILDHOOD YEARS EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES ENROLLMENT ENROLLMENT RATE ENROLLMENT RATES EPIDEMICS EXTENDED FAMILY FAMILY MEMBERS FORMAL SCHOOLING GENDER GENDER BIAS GENDER DIFFERENCES GENDER GAP GIRLS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INFANCY INTELLIGENCE INTERVENTIONS INTUITION LOW ENROLLMENT RATES MODELING NET ENROLLMENT OLDER CHILDREN OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN PARENTS PERSONALITY PERSONALITY TRAITS PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN PROBLEM SOLVING PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS PSYCHOLOGY RETURNS TO EDUCATION RISKY BEHAVIORS SAFETY NETS SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SECONDARY EDUCATION SOCIAL PROTECTION TEACHERS WAR YOUNG CHILDREN YOUNGER CHILDREN YOUTH Using data collected in rural Burkina Faso, this paper examines how children's cognitive abilities influence households' decisions to invest in their education. To address the endogeneity of child ability measures, the analysis uses rainfall shocks experienced in utero or early childhood to instrument for ability. Negative shocks in utero lead to 0.24 standard deviations lower ability z-scores, corresponding with a 38 percent enrollment drop and a 49 percent increase in child labor hours compared with their siblings. Negative education impacts are largest for in utero shocks, diminished for shocks before age two, and have no impact for shocks after age two. The paper links the fetal origins hypothesis and sibling rivalry literatures by showing that shocks experienced in utero not only have direct negative impacts on the child's cognitive ability (fetal origins hypothesis), but also negatively impact the child through the effects on sibling rivalry resulting from the cognitive differences. 2012-03-19T17:29:06Z 2012-03-19T17:29:06Z 2012-02-01 http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120209150137 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3250 English Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5965 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper The World Region The World Region
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ACCOUNT
ACHIEVEMENT
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
AVERAGE SCORE
BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT
BIRTH HISTORY
BIRTH ORDER
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
CHILD HEALTH
CHILD LABOR
CHILD NUTRITION
CHILDREN UNDER AGE
CHILDRENS EDUCATION
COGNITIVE ABILITY
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE TESTS
EARLY CHILDHOOD
EARLY CHILDHOOD YEARS
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
ENROLLMENT
ENROLLMENT RATE
ENROLLMENT RATES
EPIDEMICS
EXTENDED FAMILY
FAMILY MEMBERS
FORMAL SCHOOLING
GENDER
GENDER BIAS
GENDER DIFFERENCES
GENDER GAP
GIRLS
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
INFANCY
INTELLIGENCE
INTERVENTIONS
INTUITION
LOW ENROLLMENT RATES
MODELING
NET ENROLLMENT
OLDER CHILDREN
OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN
PARENTS
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY TRAITS
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION
PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN
PROBLEM SOLVING
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
PSYCHOLOGY
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
RISKY BEHAVIORS
SAFETY NETS
SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLS
SECONDARY EDUCATION
SOCIAL PROTECTION
TEACHERS
WAR
YOUNG CHILDREN
YOUNGER CHILDREN
YOUTH
spellingShingle ACCOUNT
ACHIEVEMENT
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
AVERAGE SCORE
BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT
BIRTH HISTORY
BIRTH ORDER
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
CHILD HEALTH
CHILD LABOR
CHILD NUTRITION
CHILDREN UNDER AGE
CHILDRENS EDUCATION
COGNITIVE ABILITY
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE TESTS
EARLY CHILDHOOD
EARLY CHILDHOOD YEARS
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
ENROLLMENT
ENROLLMENT RATE
ENROLLMENT RATES
EPIDEMICS
EXTENDED FAMILY
FAMILY MEMBERS
FORMAL SCHOOLING
GENDER
GENDER BIAS
GENDER DIFFERENCES
GENDER GAP
GIRLS
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
INFANCY
INTELLIGENCE
INTERVENTIONS
INTUITION
LOW ENROLLMENT RATES
MODELING
NET ENROLLMENT
OLDER CHILDREN
OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN
PARENTS
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY TRAITS
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION
PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN
PROBLEM SOLVING
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
PSYCHOLOGY
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
RISKY BEHAVIORS
SAFETY NETS
SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLS
SECONDARY EDUCATION
SOCIAL PROTECTION
TEACHERS
WAR
YOUNG CHILDREN
YOUNGER CHILDREN
YOUTH
Akresh, Richard
Bagby, Emilie
de Walque, Damien
Kazianga, Harounan
Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
geographic_facet The World Region
The World Region
relation Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5965
description Using data collected in rural Burkina Faso, this paper examines how children's cognitive abilities influence households' decisions to invest in their education. To address the endogeneity of child ability measures, the analysis uses rainfall shocks experienced in utero or early childhood to instrument for ability. Negative shocks in utero lead to 0.24 standard deviations lower ability z-scores, corresponding with a 38 percent enrollment drop and a 49 percent increase in child labor hours compared with their siblings. Negative education impacts are largest for in utero shocks, diminished for shocks before age two, and have no impact for shocks after age two. The paper links the fetal origins hypothesis and sibling rivalry literatures by showing that shocks experienced in utero not only have direct negative impacts on the child's cognitive ability (fetal origins hypothesis), but also negatively impact the child through the effects on sibling rivalry resulting from the cognitive differences.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Akresh, Richard
Bagby, Emilie
de Walque, Damien
Kazianga, Harounan
author_facet Akresh, Richard
Bagby, Emilie
de Walque, Damien
Kazianga, Harounan
author_sort Akresh, Richard
title Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
title_short Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
title_full Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
title_fullStr Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
title_full_unstemmed Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability
title_sort child labor, schooling, and child ability
publishDate 2012
url http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120209150137
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3250
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