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The colonial legacy of education: evidence from of Tunisia

Author

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  • Mhamed Ben Salah
  • Cédric Chambru
  • Maleke Fourati

Abstract

This paper uses spatial variations in the enrolment rate of Tunisian pupils in 1931 to estimate the weight of colonial history on medium- and long-run educational attainment. We assemble a new dataset on the location of public primary schools and the number of pupils and teachers, together with population data for 1931. We match these data with information on education at the district level, derived from two population censuses conducted in 1984 and 2014. We find that a one per cent increase in the enrolment rate in 1931 is associated with a 2.37 percentage points increase in the literacy rate in 1984, and a 1.89 percentage points increase in 2014. We further investigate the exposure to colonial public primary education across different age cohorts. We find that our results are mainly driven by older generations, and tend to fade for younger cohorts. While we provide qualitative evidence that a cultural transmission of education may have contributed to this persistence, we also argue that the continuous effort and investment made by Tunisian governments to achieve universal primary enrolment best explain the decline in spatial disparities in educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Mhamed Ben Salah & Cédric Chambru & Maleke Fourati, 2022. "The colonial legacy of education: evidence from of Tunisia," ECON - Working Papers 411, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Sep 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:411
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    File URL: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/218541/13/econwp411.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kelly, Morgan, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," CEPR Discussion Papers 13783, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Silvia Ferrari & Francisco Cribari-Neto, 2004. "Beta Regression for Modelling Rates and Proportions," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(7), pages 799-815.
    3. Morgan Kelly, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," Working Papers 201913, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    4. Conley, T. G., 1999. "GMM estimation with cross sectional dependence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 1-45, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Touati-Tliba, Mohamed, 2024. "Comparative performance of Algeria's education districts: The Influence of colonial legacy through cultural capital," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Colonial investment; colonial settlers; primary education; literacy; Tunisia.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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