Work

Orphanhood and human capital destruction: Is there persistence into adulthood?

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: This article presents unique evidence that orphanhood matters in the long run for health and education outcomes in a region of northwestern Tanzania. We study a sample of 718 non-orphaned children surveyed in 1991-1994 who were traced and reinterviewed as adults in 2004. A large proportion, 19%, lost one or more parents before age 15 in this period, allowing us to assess permanent health and education impacts of orphanhood. In the analysis, we control for a wide range of child and adult characteristics before orphanhood, as well as community fixed effects. We find that maternal orphanhood has a permanent adverse impact of 2 cm of final height attainment and one year of educational attainment. Expressing welfare in terms of consumption expenditure, the result is a gap of 8.5% compared with similar children whose mothers survived until at least their 15th birthday.

Source: Demography

DOI: 10.1353/dem.0.0094

Authors: Kathleen Beegle, Joachim De Weerdt, Stefan Dercon

Institutions: World Bank, University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: World Bank Group, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Economic and Social Research Council