A Tale of Two Cities: Settlement Disparities in School Achievement in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

37 Pages Posted: 5 Mar 2014 Last revised: 12 Nov 2014

See all articles by Ismael Mourifie

Ismael Mourifie

University of Toronto - Department of Economics

Idrissa Ouili

University of Montreal

Date Written: November 11, 2014

Abstract

In Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso), at least 33% of the 2 million inhabitants live in informal settlements. This subpopulation lacks social infrastructure and has extremely low education attainments. Through a two-step control function approach, we investigate disparities in educational attainment between formal and informal settlements in Ouagadougou. We focus on differences in families' behavior towards schooling in the two settlement types, in particular, the trade-off between child quantity and quality. We find evidence of a child quantity and quality trade-off in both settlements. By adapting long's (2009) group comparisons multiple testing procedure, we find that the trade-off is more acute in informal settlements. Moreover, we use the latter strategy to analyze the impact of a governmental Ten-Year Basic Education Development Plan (PDDEB 2001-2011) on educational attainment's disparities between formal and informal settlements.

Keywords: School attainment, family size, regional disparities, PDDEB, Burkina Faso, policy evaluation, control function approach

JEL Classification: 25, J13, J16, J18, C36

Suggested Citation

Mourifie, Ismael and Ouili, Idrissa, A Tale of Two Cities: Settlement Disparities in School Achievement in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) (November 11, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2404191 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2404191

Ismael Mourifie (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Department of Economics ( email )

150 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S3G7
Canada

Idrissa Ouili

University of Montreal ( email )

C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

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