Orphanhood and Human Capital Destruction: Is There Persistence into Adulthood?
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.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article biblioteca |
| Language: | EN |
| Published: |
2010
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| Subjects: | Analysis of Education I210, Fertility, Family Planning, Child Care, INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS :: Children, Youth J130, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration O150, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5400 |
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