author: Delesalle, E.
year: 2021
title: "The effect of the Universal Primary Education program on consumption and on the employment sector: Evidence from Tanzania"
publisher: World Development
uri: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105345
pubtype: article
discipline: development

country: Tanzania
period: 2002-2012
maxlength: 36
targeting: implicit
group: rural workers
data: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Population and Housing Census 2002; Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA)

design: quasi-experimental
method: difference-in-difference approach; IV approach
sample: 433606
unit: individual
representativeness: national
causal: 0 # 0 correlation / 1 causal

theory: human capital theory
limitations: can not directly identify intervention compliers, constructing returns for household heads; 'villagization' effect may have impacted unobserved variables affecting returns
observation:
  - intervention: education (universal)
    institutional: 0
    structural: 1
    agency: 0
    inequality: spatial; education
    type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal
    indicator: 1 # 0 absolute / 1 relative
    measures: education
    findings: improved overall rural education; education inequalities persist along gender, geographical, income lines
    channels: villagization effect, increased education access
    direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
    significance: # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg
  - intervention: education (universal)
    institutional: 0
    structural: 1
    agency: 1
    inequality: spatial; education; gender
    type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal
    indicator: 0 # 0 absolute / 1 relative
    measures: consumption
    findings: sg increase for formal wage and agricultural work for women; sg increase in non-agricultural wage work for men; returns to education lower in agriculture than other self-employment/wage work
    channels: sector choice changes, increased individual productivity
    direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
    significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg

notes: programme increased primary education access and introduced more technical curriculum
annotation: |
  A study looking at the returns of the Tanzanian 'Universal Primary Education' program on consumption and on rural labour market outcomes.
  The programme both attempted to increase access to schools but also changed curricula to contain more technical classes, judged relevant to increase equity in rural areas.
  Even though the programme aims to increase universal equality of access to education, the study finds that gender, geographical and income inequalities persist throughout, with individuals that complete primary education more likely to be male urban wage workers.
  The study measures returns purely on consumption of households to show the estimated effect on their productivity ---
  here, it finds generally positive returns but greatest for non-agricultural work, self-employed or as wage work.
  Importantly, the introduction of more technical classes, however, also changes employment sector choices, with men working less in agricultural work and more in non-farm wage sectors and an increased probability for rural women to both work in agriculture and to work formally.
  Limitations of the study include the inability to directly identify intervention compliers and having to construct returns for each household head only and a possibly unobserved 'villagization' effect by bringing people together in community villages for their education leading to other unobserved variable impacting the returns.