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Measuring educational inequalities:A method and an application to Albania

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  • Nathalie Picard

    (THEMA, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, France and INED, Paris, France.)

  • François-Charles Wolff

    (LEN, Université de Nantes, BP 52231 Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, 44322 Nantes Cedex 3, France; CNAV and INED, Paris, France.)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether educational inequalities stem rather from differences between families or within families. In a poor economy, schooling is costly for parents and education is likely to be unequally distributed among siblings. Drawing on discrete ordered choice models, we present a simple method to estimate the between and within components of both the explained and unexplained variances of education. For our empirical analysis, we use the LSMS survey conducted in 2002 in Albania. We explain about 40% of the total variance and find that inequalities in education are mainly due to differences between families. Differences within family are lower and far less easily explained.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathalie Picard & François-Charles Wolff, 2007. "Measuring educational inequalities:A method and an application to Albania," THEMA Working Papers 2007-21, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    • Handle: RePEc:ema:worpap:2007-21
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    Cited by:

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    2. Maria Sassi, 2020. "Evidence of Between- and Within-Household Child Nutrition Inequality in Malawi: Does the Gender of the Household Head Matter?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 28-50, January.
    3. Gianna Claudia Giannelli & Lucia Mangiavacchi, 2010. "Children's Schooling and Parental Migration: Empirical Evidence on the ‘Left‐behind’ Generation in Albania," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(s1), pages 76-92, December.
    4. Lucia Mangiavacchi, 2016. "Family structure and children’s educational attainment in transition economies," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 303-303, October.
    5. Palma, André de & Lindsey, Robin & Picard, Nathalie, 2015. "Trip-timing decisions and congestion with household scheduling preferences," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 118-131.
    6. Hady Senghor & François-Charles Wolff, 2017. "Educational Inequalities between Siblings: Evidence from Six Sub-Saharan African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 223-236, June.
    7. Nathalie Picard & François-Charles Wolff, 2014. "Les inégalités intrafamiliales d'éducation en France," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 65(6), pages 813-840.
    8. François-Charles Wolff, 2013. "Inégalités d’éducation et de position sociale au sein des fratries," Post-Print hal-03914273, HAL.
    9. Luca Tasciotti & Natascha Wagner, 2018. "How Much Should We Trust Micro-data? A Comparison of the Socio-demographic Profile of Malawian Households Using Census, LSMS and DHS data," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(4), pages 588-612, September.
    10. Peng Zhou & Fengwen Chen & Wei Wang & Peixin Song & Chenliang Zhu, 2019. "Does the Development of Information and Communication Technology and Transportation Infrastructure Affect China’s Educational Inequality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Mathias Lerch, 2013. "Fertility Decline During Albania’s Societal Crisis and its Subsequent Consolidation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 195-220, May.
    12. Richard Mussa, 2015. "Intrahousehold and Interhousehold Child Nutrition Inequality in Malawi," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(1), pages 140-153, March.
    13. Tien Manh Vu, 2012. "Are daughters always the losers in the chore war? Evidence using household and twin data from Vietnam," OSIPP Discussion Paper 12E002, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    14. David Mmopelwa, 2019. "Household size, birth order and child health in Botswana," Discussion Papers 2019-10, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; intra-household inequality; random effects ordered Probit models; siblings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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