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The long-run impact of orphanhood

Author

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  • Beegle, Kathleen
  • De Weerdt, Joachim
  • Dercon, Stefan

Abstract

This paper presents unique evidence that orphanhood matters in the long run for health and education outcomes, in a region of Northwestern Tanzania. The paper studies a sample of 718 non-orphaned children surveyed in 1991-94, who were traced and re-interviewed as adults in 2004. A large proportion, 19 percent, lost one or more parents before the age of 15 in this period, allowing the authors to assess the permanent health and education impacts of orphanhood. The analysis controls for a wide range of child and adult characteristics before orphanhood, as well as community fixed effects. The findings show 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 percent compared with similar children whose mother survived till at least their 15th birthday.

Suggested Citation

  • Beegle, Kathleen & De Weerdt, Joachim & Dercon, Stefan, 2007. "The long-run impact of orphanhood," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4353, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4353
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Peter J. Glick & David E. Sahn & Thomas F. Walker, 2016. "Household Shocks and Education Investments in Madagascar," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(6), pages 792-813, December.
    2. Beegle, Kathleen & Filmer, Deon & Stokes, Andrew & Tiererova, Lucia, 2010. "Orphanhood and the Living Arrangements of Children in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 1727-1746, December.
    3. Bell, Clive & Gersbach, Hans, 2009. "The macroeconomics of targeting: the case of an enduring epidemic," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 54-72, January.
    4. Daniel Suryadarma & Yus Medina Pakpahan & Asep Suryahadi, 2009. "The Effects of Parental Death and Chronic Poverty on Children’s Education and Health : Evidence from Indonesia," Development Economics Working Papers 23043, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    5. Levina, Irina, 2013. "Problem of orphanhood in Russia: Analysis of cultural, economic and political aspects," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 29(1), pages 3-28.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Street Children; Youth and Governance; Primary Education; Population Policies;
    All these keywords.

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