Abstract:
This study analyzes the intergenerational transmission of education in nine
Sub-Saharan African countries, using nationally representative household survey data on parents of adult individuals. It provides the levels and trends of
intergenerational persistence of years of schooling over 50 years, and it also
ranks the nine countries relative to other nations. There is a declining cohort
trend in the intergenerational persistence of education, particularly after the
1960s. Nevertheless, the education of parents remains a strong determinant of
the educational outcomes of children. The analysis also documents country
heterogeneity (intergenerational educational mobility varies significantly
across countries) and a marked gender effect: daughter's education attainment
is more correlated with her parents' education than that of sons. From a policy
perspective, our result points to the importance of targeted redistributive policies and the expansion of secondary education to improve mobility.
