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Parental expectations and school enrolment decisions: Evidence from rural Ghana

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  • Ferdinand Ahiakpor
  • Raymond Swaray

Abstract

We use field data to investigate factors that influence parents' decisions to enrol children in schools in rural Ghana. The empirical results identified a host of socio-economic and household-level factors including remittances parents expect from investing in education, parents perception of a child's desirable professions, cost of schooling and discount rate as significant determinants of parental school enrolment decision. When gender of the child and remittances are taken into account, we show male parents are more likely to invest in education of boys than girls because they expect significantly higher returns from their investment in boys. Female parents do not show such gender preference. The proportion of children enrolled in school is positively related to average cost of schooling for male parents Gender of parent plays a significant role in school enrolment decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferdinand Ahiakpor & Raymond Swaray, 2015. "Parental expectations and school enrolment decisions: Evidence from rural Ghana," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 132-142, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:19:y:2015:i:1:p:132-142
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/rode.12122
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    3. Ringdal, Charlotte & Sjursen, Ingrid Hoem, 2017. "Household bargaining and spending on children: Experimental evidence from Tanzania," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 19/2017, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    4. Charlotte Ringdal & Ingrid Hoem Sjursen, 2021. "Household Bargaining and Spending on Children: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(350), pages 430-455, April.
    5. Haiyang Lu & Peng Nie & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "The Effect of Parental Educational Expectations on Adolescent Subjective Well-Being and the Moderating Role of Perceived Academic Pressure: Longitudinal Evidence for China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 117-137, February.

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