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To what extent are African education policies pro-poor?

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  • Jean-Claude Berthélemy

    (TEAM)

Abstract

This paper discusses the distributive nature of education policies in developing countries, with a specific emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. We show that human capital is particularly unequally distributed in sub-Saharan African countries and in Middle-East and North Africa and South Asian regions as well, after taking into account the inevitable (arithmetical) correlation which exists between the aggregate level of human capital and its concentration. We provide further evidence, based on sub-Saharan Africa schooling structure data that these countries pay, relatively speaking, little attention to primary education, to the benefit of secondary education. We interpret this bias as the result of specific institutional characteristics of sub-Saharan Africa, which are deeply-rooted in its history (in particular its post-colonial legacy), its demography and its geography

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Claude Berthélemy, 2004. "To what extent are African education policies pro-poor?," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla04003, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    • Handle: RePEc:mse:wpsorb:bla04003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    10. Denis Cogneau & Charlotte Guénard, 2003. "Colonization, Institutions, and Inequality, A note on some suggestive evidence," Working Papers DT/2003/05, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Guillaumont & Laurent Wagner, 2014. "Aid Effectiveness for Poverty Reduction: Lessons from Cross‑country Analyses, with a Special Focus on Vulnerable Countries," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 22(HS01), pages 217-261.
    2. Patrick Guillaumont, 2011. "Aid effectiveness for poverty reduction:macroeconomic overview and emerging issues," CERDI Working papers halshs-00554285, HAL.
    3. Christian Morrisson & Fabrice Murtin, 2010. "The Kuznets Curve of Education: A Global Perspective on Education Inequalities," CEE Discussion Papers 0116, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    4. Christian Morrisson & Fabrice Murtin, 2013. "The Kuznets curve of human capital inequality: 1870–2010," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 283-301, September.
    5. Thomas Ziesemer, 2022. "Global Dynamics of Gini Coefficients of Education for 146 Countries: Update to 1950-2015 and a Compact Guide to the Literature," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 85-95.
    6. Mtiraoui, Abderraouf, 2015. "The impact of the action of public power on economic development: Application to the education sector in the MENA region," MPRA Paper 63051, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Patrick GUILLAUMONT, 2009. "Aid effectiveness for poverty reduction: macroeconomic overview and emerging issues," Working Papers P05, FERDI.
    8. Szirmai A. & Gebreeyesus M. & Guadagno F. & Verspagen B., 2013. "Promoting productive employment in Sub‐Saharan Africa : a review of the literature," MERIT Working Papers 2013-062, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Christian Morrisson & Fabrice Murtin, 2008. "L'inégalité mondiale de l'éducation et des revenus (1870-2000)," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(5), pages 39-46.
    10. Dawood MAMOON, 2018. "Skilled-unskilled wage asymmetries as an outcome of skewed international trade patterns in the South," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 65-82, March.
    11. Gille, Véronique, 2015. "Distribution of human capital and income: An empirical study on Indian States," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 239-256.
    12. Dawood Mamoon, 2015. "How May International Trade affect Poverty in a Developing Country Setup? The Inequality Channel," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 3(5), pages 230-244, May.
    13. Dawood Mamoon, 2012. "Do schooling years improve the earning capacity of lower income groups?," International Journal of Education Economics and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9.
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1ds77lna5j86jagcp29tfni72o is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Abderraouf Ben Ahmed Mtiraoui & Mongi Lassoued, 2020. "Die Auswirkungen des Handelns der öffentlichen Macht auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung: Anwendung auf den Bildungssektor in der MENA-Region [The impact of the action of public power on economic d," Working Papers hal-02521343, HAL.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1ds77lna5j86jagcp29tfni72o is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Mamoon, Dawood, 2017. "Why International Trade Cause Inequality in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 82268, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; distributive policy; institutions; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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