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Mother's Education and Increased Child Survival in Madagascar: What Can We Say?

Author

Listed:
  • Samia Badji

    (Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE L-SE UMR 5824, F-69131 Ecully, France)

Abstract
This paper aims to assess whether a causal effect exists between maternal education and child survival in Madagascar. The omission of factors such as mother's health, innate ability and time preferences could lead to an overestimation of the true effect of education. The case of sub-Saharan Africa where child mortality rates are the highest, is overlooked by most of the causal evidence gathered so far for developing countries. The present paper attempts to redress this omission through the adoption of a careful empirical strategy. The analysis sheds light on the mechanisms at stake based on information on hygiene practices, housing conditions and the health care administered before, during and after childbirth. The results demonstrate that mothers' education has a positive and strong effect on their offsprings' survival probabilities. Wealth on its own has a strong effect but seems to account for only a third of the effect of maternal education.

Suggested Citation

  • Samia Badji, 2016. "Mother's Education and Increased Child Survival in Madagascar: What Can We Say?," Working Papers 1635, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    • Handle: RePEc:gat:wpaper:1635
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child mortality; mother's education; Africa; Madagascar;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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