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Education incomes poverty and inequality in Ghana in the 1990s

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  • Francis Teal

Abstract

Three issues are addressed in this paper. First, we use both household and macro data to establish how fast per capita consumption and incomes grew in Ghana in the 1990s. Second, we ask how much of the rise in incomes was due to rises in the level of human capital and how much reflected underlying technical progress. Third, we assess the implications of how incomes rose for the interpretation of changes in the poverty profile. Four household surveys are used to show changes in both expenditures and incomes over the decade. The household surveys show that both consumption per capita and incomes rose by 12 per cent, a rate of 1 per cent per annum. This figure is identical to the growth rate for consumption per capita implied by the macro accounts. The average level of education of the population rose by 27 per cent over the decade which led to a rise of 3 per cent in per capita consumption. We find, on average, no evidence for any underlying technical progress. We show that the rise in income was associated with modest falls in the head count and poverty gap measures of poverty but with virtually no change in the severity of poverty measure. The fall in the head count measure was too small to prevent the absolute number of poor people from rising. Inequality increased with the incomes of the non-agricultural self-employed, with given levels of human capital, falling both absolutely and relative to wage workers.

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  • Francis Teal, 2001. "Education incomes poverty and inequality in Ghana in the 1990s," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2001-21, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:wps/2001-21
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    Cited by:

    1. Booysen, Frikkie & van der Berg, Servaas & Burger, Ronelle & Maltitz, Michael von & Rand, Gideon du, 2008. "Using an Asset Index to Assess Trends in Poverty in Seven Sub-Saharan African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1113-1130, June.
    2. Charles Ackah, & Oliver Morrissey, & Simon Appleton, 2007. "Who Gains from Trade Protection in Ghana? A Household-Level Analysis," Discussion Papers 07/02, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    3. Richard Black & Adriana Castaldo, 2009. "Return Migration And Entrepreneurship In Ghana And Côte D’Ivoire: The Role Of Capital Transfers," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(1), pages 44-58, February.
    4. Rulof P. Burger & Francis J. Teal, 2015. "The Effect of Schooling on Worker Productivity: Evidence from a South African Industry Panel," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 24(5), pages 629-644.
    5. Francis Teal, 2006. "Consumption and welfare in Ghana in the 1990s," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1252-1269.
    6. Bairagya Indrajit, 2020. "Returns to education in self-employment in India: A comparison across different selection models," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-5, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Rulof P Burger & Francis J Teal, 2013. "Measuring the option value of education," Working Papers 15/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    8. Ronelle Burger & Frikkie Booysen & Servaas van der Berg & Michael von Maltitz, 2006. "Marketable Wealth in a Poor African Country: Using an index of consumer durables to investigate wealth accumulation by households in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-138, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Indrajit Bairagya, 2020. "Returns to education in self-employment in India: A comparison across different selection models," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-5, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. repec:csa:wpaper:2013/13 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Howard White & Edoardo Masset, 2005. "Books, Buildings and Learning Outcomes: an impact evaluation of World Bank assistance to basic education in Ghana," Development and Comp Systems 0504013, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Francis Teal & James Habyarimana & Papa Thiam & Ginger Turner, 2006. "Ghana : An Analysis of Firm Productivity," World Bank Publications - Reports 12595, The World Bank Group.
    13. Frikkie Booysen & Ronelle Burger & Gideon Du Rand & Michael von Maltitz & Servaas Van der Berg, 2007. "Trends in Poverty and Inequality in Seven African Countries," Working Papers PMMA 2007-06, PEP-PMMA.
    14. Francis Teal, 2005. "Consumption, Welfare and Well-Being in Ghana in the 1990s," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-002, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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