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  5. Intergenerational Impacts of Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Intergenerational Impacts of Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana

  • Esther Duflo
  • Pascaline Dupas
  • Elizabeth Spelke
  • Mark Walsh
American Economic Review (Forthcoming)

Abstract

We provide experimental evidence on the intergenerational impacts of secondary education subsidies in a low-income context, leveraging a randomized controlled trial and 15-year longitudinal follow-up. Secondary school scholarships delay fertility, reduce unwanted pregnancies and change partner selection. Under-one mortality is reduced by half. We also document cognitive development gains of 0.24 standard deviations of test scores by age 5 among children of female scholarship recipients. Means-tested secondary school scholarships are a high return investment, with a conservatively estimated $4.1 in benefits for each $1 the policy would cost the government in the long-run.

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