The Role of Education and Family Background in Marriage, Childbearing and Labor Market Participation in Senegal

33 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2015

See all articles by Francesca Marchetta

Francesca Marchetta

Université d'Auvergne - Clermont 1 - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Developpement International (CERDI)

David E. Sahn

Cornell University

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Abstract

This paper examines the role of education and family background on age at marriage, age at first birth, and age at labor market entry for young women in Senegal using a rich individual-level survey conducted in 2003. We use a multiple-equation framework that allows us to account for the endogeneity that arises from the simultaneity of the decisions that we model. Differences in the characteristics of the dependent variable informed the choice of the models that are used to estimate each equation: an ordered probit model is used to analyze the number of completed years of schooling, and a generalized hazard model for the other three decisions. Results show the importance of parental education, especially the father, on years of schooling. We find that each additional year of schooling of a woman with average characteristics delays marriage and the age at first birth by 0.5 and 0.4 years, respectively. Parents' education also reduces the hazard of marriage and age of first birth, while the death of parents has just the opposite effect, with the magnitudes of effects being larger for mothers. Delaying marriage also leads to an increase in the hazard of entering the formal labor market, as does the education and death of the women's parents.

Keywords: multiple equations, duration models, unobserved heterogeneity, Senegal

JEL Classification: J12, J13, C3

Suggested Citation

Marchetta, Francesca and Sahn, David E., The Role of Education and Family Background in Marriage, Childbearing and Labor Market Participation in Senegal. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8876, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2575056 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2575056

Francesca Marchetta (Contact Author)

Université d'Auvergne - Clermont 1 - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Developpement International (CERDI) ( email )

65 Boulevard Francois Mitterrand
63000 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 1
France

David E. Sahn

Cornell University ( email )

B16 MVR Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States
607-255-8931 (Phone)
607-255-0178 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/des16

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