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French and British Colonial Legacies in Education: Evidence from the Partition of Cameroon

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  • Dupraz, Yannick

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

I use the partition of Cameroon between France and the UK after WWI and its reunification after independence to investigate colonial legacies in education. Using border discontinuity analysis, I find that Cameroonians born in the 1970s are 9 percentage points more likely to have completed high school if they were born in the former British part. French and British Cameroon started diverging after partition, but the British advantage disappeared when the French increased education expenditure in the 1950s. The resurgence of a British advantage is explained by the French legacy of high repetition rates and their detrimental effect on dropout.

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  • Dupraz, Yannick, 2017. "French and British Colonial Legacies in Education: Evidence from the Partition of Cameroon," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 333, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:333
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    Cited by:

    1. Felix Meier zu Selhausen, 2019. "Missions, Education and Conversion in Colonial Africa," Palgrave Studies in Economic History, in: David Mitch & Gabriele Cappelli (ed.), Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education, chapter 0, pages 25-59, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Eleonora Guarnieri & Helmut Rainer, 2018. "Female Empowerment and Male Backlash," CESifo Working Paper Series 7009, CESifo.
    3. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Neumann, Cora, 2022. "Missing women in Colonial India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 613, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. Fenske, James & Wang, Shizhuo, 2023. "Tradition and mortality: Evidence from twin infanticide in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Cappelli, Gabriele & Baten, Joerg, 2021. "Numeracy development in Africa: New evidence from a long-term perspective (1730–1970)," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Amélie Allegre & Oana Borcan & Christa Brunnschweiler & Christa N. Brunnschweiler, 2025. "Gendered Impacts of Colonial Education: The Role of Access and Norms Transmission in French Morocco," CESifo Working Paper Series 11725, CESifo.
    7. Andreas Backhaus, 2019. "Fading Legacies: Human Capital in the Aftermath of the Partitions of Poland," Working Papers 0150, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. André, Pierre & Dupraz, Yannick, 2023. "Education and polygamy: Evidence from Cameroon," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Chaudhary, Latika & Rubin, Jared & Iyer, Sriya & Shrivastava, Anand, 2020. "Culture and colonial legacy: Evidence from public goods games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 107-129.
    10. Selhausen, Felix Meier zu & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2024. "Gender Inequality and the Colonial Economy: Evidence from Anglican Marriage Registers in Urban British Africa," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 711, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Brodeur, Abel & Mabeu, Marie Christelle & Pongou, Roland, 2020. "Ancestral Norms, Legal Origins, and Female Empowerment," IZA Discussion Papers 13105, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Guarnieri, Eleonora & Rainer, Helmut, 2021. "Colonialism and female empowerment: A two-sided legacy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Marie Christelle Mabeu & Roland Pongou, 2021. "The Interplay Between Colonial History and Postcolonial Institutions: Evidence from Cameroon," Working Papers 2111E Classification-D02,, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    14. Marazyan, Karine, 2022. "Documenting Inter-personal Conflicts in Senegal during the First Quarter the 20th Century using Dispute Registries from native courts," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2209, CEPREMAP.
    15. Touati-Tliba, Mohamed, 2024. "Comparative performance of Algeria's education districts: The Influence of colonial legacy through cultural capital," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    16. Amelie Allegre & Oana Borcan & Christa Brunnschweiler, 2025. "Gendered Impacts of Colonial Education: the Role of Access and Norms Transmission in French Morocco," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2025-02, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    17. Becker, Bastian & Schmitt, Carina, 2023. "License to educate: The role of national networks in colonial empires," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Jedwab, Remi & Meier zu Selhausen, Felix & Moradi, Alexander, 2021. "Christianization without economic development: Evidence from missions in Ghana," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 573-596.
    19. Karaja, Elira & Rubin, Jared, 2022. "Θ The cultural transmission of trust norms: Evidence from a lab in the field on a natural experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 1-19.
    20. Amélie Allegre & Oana Borcan & Christa Brunnschweiler, 2025. "Gendered Impacts of Colonial Education: the Role of Access and Norms Transmission in French Morocco," Working Paper Series 20225, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    21. Canning, David & Mabeu, Marie Christelle & Pongou, Roland, 2020. "Colonial origins and fertility: can the market overcome history?," MPRA Paper 112496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Johan Fourie & Nonso Obikili, 2019. "Decolonizing with data: The cliometric turn in African economic history," Working Papers 02/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    23. Joerg Baten & Michiel de Haas & Elisabeth Kempter & Felix Meier zu Selhausen, 2021. "Educational Gender Inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Long‐Term Perspective," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 813-849, September.
    24. Ewout Frankema & Marlous van Waijenburg, 2023. "What about the race between education and technology in the Global South? Comparing skill premiums in colonial Africa and Asia," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 941-978, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; colonization; education; persistence; border discontinuity.JEL Classification: N37; I25; H52; O43;
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