Development in Sub-Saharan Africa New Micro-Level Evidence on Education, Geography and Trade
Abstract
- Abstract
- en This dissertation contributes to the understanding of three pertinent developmental challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, namely education, geography, and trade. More specifically, it presents three independent and self-contained chapters which analyze these factors from a micro-level perspective, in turn. After a brief introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 re-visits the role of physical geography in economic development. In particular, it employs a large-scale geo-referenced household-level survey covering 28 sub-Saharan African countries over 20 years to analyze the previously established link between coastal access and individual living standards. Analyzing individual-level data allows to expand on the insights from cross-country and cross-regional contexts and also facilitates the analysis of potential channels. The results show that individuals living further away from the coast are significantly poorer, as measured along a breadth of welfare indicators, such as basic consumption (water, food, medical care), possession of various consumer durables, or having paid employment. The chapter highlights the role of human capital, urbanization as well as infrastructural endowments in explaining the identified within-country differences in individual economic welfare. Chapter 3 investigates the effect of education on women's fertility and contributes to a growing literature which analyzes this nexus via quasi-experimental methods. Specifically, it leverages Burundi's Free Primary Education Policy of 2005 to identify exogenous variation in schooling via a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) and analyzes the outcomes affected by schooling through an instrumental variable (IV) approach. The results confirm the negative relationship between schooling and fertility observed in other developing settings. However, contrary to extant studies, the chapter provides novel evidence on a differential treatment effect of education. While poor women profit from policy-induced education in terms of increases in literacy, remunerated employment opportunities as well as a reduction in teenage births, none of these effects of additional education are observed for women from the wealthier households of our sample. The evidence of such a marked heterogeneity helps to evaluate under which conditions the literature’s previous findings may generalize. Chapter 4 evaluates the distributional effects of trade liberalization in Africa by combining the spatial considerations of regional market integration with a household-level analysis. The chapter thereby treats the re-establishment of the East African Community (EAC) in 2001 as a regional policy intervention having differential effects on individual households governed by their geo-spatial location within the countries. This prediction is derived from an extension to a canonical New Economic Geography (NEG) developed in the chapter. Contrary to the model’s prediction, the empirical results drawn from a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach do not reveal relative welfare increases in regions closer to internal EAC borders. Rather, the results provide evidence of strengthened agglomeration tendencies in the pre-existing economic hubs of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala, as measured by an increase in consumption and population density.
- de Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit drei wesentlichen entwicklungsökonomischen Barrieren Subsahara-Afrikas, respektive Bildung, Geografie und Handel. Konkret präsentiert sie drei unabhängige und eigenständige Kapitel, die diese Faktoren aus mikroökonometrischer Perspektive untersuchen. Nach einer kurzen Einführung in Kapitel 1, re-evaluiert Kapitel 2 den Zusammenhang physischer Geografie und wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung. Insbesondere nutzt es groß angelegte, georeferenzierte Haushaltsdaten aus 28 afrikanischen Ländern, um die Verbindung zwischen Küstenzugang und individuellem Lebensstandard zu analysieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Personen, die weiter von der Küste entfernt leben, signifikant ärmer sind, gemessen an einer Vielzahl von Wohlfahrtsindikatoren. Das Kapitel identifiziert die Rolle des Humankapitals, der Urbanisierung sowie der Infrastruktur als Erklärung dieser subnationalen Unterschiede. Kapitel 3 untersucht den Einfluss von Bildung auf Geburtenraten und trägt zu einer wachsenden Literatur bei, die diesen Zusammenhang mithilfe quasi-experimenteller Methoden analysiert. Speziell nutzt es die Politikintervention kostenloser Primarschulbildung in Burundi, um exogene Variation im Bildungsniveau mithilfe eines Regression-Discontinuity-Designs (RDD) zu identifizieren, und die nachgelagerten Effekte durch eine Instrumentvariablenschätzung (IV) kausal zu analysieren. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen die negative Beziehung zwischen Schulbildung und Fertilität, die in anderen Entwicklungsländern beobachtet wird. Im Gegensatz zu bestehenden Studien liefert das Kapitel jedoch neue Erkenntnisse über einen differenziellen Behandlungseffekt. Während arme Frauen erhöhte Alphabetisierung, verbesserten Zugang zu bezahlten Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten sowie verringerte Geburtenraten vorweisen, kann keiner dieser Effekte von zusätzlicher Bildung für Individuen aus wohlhabenderen Haushalten unserer Stichprobe beobachtet werden. Die Evidenz einer derartigen Heterogenität hilft zu evaluieren, unter welchen Bedingungen die bisherigen Ergebnisse der Literatur verallgemeinert werden können. Kapitel 4 betrachtet die verteilungsökonomischen Auswirkungen von Handelsliberalisierung, indem es die räumlichen Aspekte regionaler Marktintegration mit einer Haushaltsanalyse kombiniert. Das Kapitel nutzt dabei die Gründung der Ostafrikanischen Gemeinschaft (EAC) im Jahr 2001 als eine regionalpolitische Intervention mit differenzieller Auswirkung auf einzelne Haushalte, die durch ihre geografische Lage innerhalb der Länder bestimmt wird. Diese Vorhersagen werden im Kapitel durch eine Erweiterung eines klassischen New Economic Geography (NEG) Modells entwickelt. Im Gegensatz zur Vorhersage des Modells zeigen die empirischen Ergebnisse, die aus einem Differenzen-in-Differenzen-Ansatz (DiD) abgeleitet sind, keine relativen Wohlfahrtssteigerungen in Regionen, die näher an internen EAC-Grenzen liegen. Vielmehr liefern die Ergebnisse Hinweise auf verstärkte Agglomerationstendenzen in den bereits bestehenden Wirtschaftszentren Nairobi, Dar es Salaam und Kampala, gemessen an einer Zunahme des Konsums und der Bevölkerungsdichte.
Subjects
People & roles
- Authors
- Wild, Frederik
- thesis advisor
- Stadelmann, David
- degree granting institution
- Faculty of Law, Business & Economics, University of Bayreuth
- Place of publication
- Bayreuth
Origins & context
- Title
- Development in Sub-Saharan Africa New Micro-Level Evidence on Education, Geography and Trade
- Publication type
- Doctoral thesis
- Language
- English
- Year
- April 2024
- Defense date
- April 18, 2024
- Page count
- V, 305
- Number of pages
- 305
Identifiers & sources
- Identifier (source ID, Wikidata)
- eref-89428
- epub-7682
Full text
- Full text
- i DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA NEW MICRO-LEVEL EVIDENCE ON EDUCATION, GEOGRAPHY AND TRADE Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Bayreuth Vorgelegt von Frederik Wild aus BAB 8 Stuttgart-München bei km 10.7 ii Dekan: Prof. Dr. André Mayer Erstberichterstatter: Prof. Dr. David Stadelmann Zweitberichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Mario Larch Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 18.04.2024 iii Für meine Familie iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, David Stadelmann, for affording me the opportunity to pursue this endeavor. Without your trust and support, I could not imagine having developed the deep passion and satisfaction for academic work that I now enjoy. You gave me guidance when needed, yet also allowed me the freedom to explore the topics I am passionate about. I will remember the many insightful, often lively debates we had in the office, on our many travels, or simply between doors. Your intellectual acumen is truly inspiring. Secondly, I would like to thank Mario Larch, who took on the role of second supervisor without hesitation and was always available for advice. I also won’t forget Mario’s summertime seminars, which were academically fruitful and, above all, encouraging environments. Not to mention the great barbecues! I am also very grateful to Benno Torgler for inviting me to QUT, where I spent an amazing two months during my research visit. I am appreciative of the many colleagues I have met during my time in Bayreuth and of the faculty for providing a supportive and constructive environment. I would like to thank the team of VWL II, and especially Heidi, for always being there with an open ear and for a delightful morning talk. Not to forget Helge Wiechmann, with whom I have had the pleasure of sharing the office and who became a true friend during our dissertation chapters. Importantly, I would like to… Read the full text about 113,791 words
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