Religion and Human Capital in Ghana

This paper examines the religion-human capital link, examining a recent household survey for Ghana. Insights from the recent anthropological literature leads to a prediction of Islam being associated with lower human capital levels than Christianity, since Islam, perhaps surprisingly, may be clustered together with Traditional/Animist religion within the group of orally based religions for the case of Ghana. While previous studies typically have only considered the main religions, thereby not allowing for heterogeneous associations in the links at the sub-group level, and also have not allowed religious affiliation to be endogenously determined, these possibilities are explored here, as well. I find a strong association between individual religious affiliation and human capital as measured by years of schooling, with Christians as a group being more literate and having completed more years of schooling than Muslims and Animists / Traditionalists, thus confirming the predictions from the conceptual framework. At the same time, there is a great deal of heterogeneity in the strength of this relationship within different types of Christianity. The instrumental variables estimation strategy proves to be preferable to OLS, while at the same yielding higher associations in the religion-human capital relations ship. In turn, this indicates that previous studies, which have typically used OLS, may have systematically underestimated the strength of the religion-human capital link. Directions for future research are also presented

Asymmetries in union relative wage effects in Ghanaian manufacturing - an analysis applying quantile regressions

The authors analyze the determinants of earnings in Ghanaian manufacturing, focusing on the impact of unions in terms of the"union relative wage effect", and the possible asymmetries of this effect across the earnings distribution. They find evidence of a union relative wage effect occurring through two distinct channels. First, there is a direct effect through individual union membership, the standard"union premium", well known from the empirical literature on unions. Second, there is a spillover effect to non-union members. The authors also find evidence of an additional union effect, that comes through firm-specific training. They confirm their conjecture that there is an asymmetry in the union relative wage effect: unions benefit mainly at the lower end of the wage distribution. This finding is in line with earlier research, which generally finds that unions reduce income inequality, and wage discrimination. An evaluation of the non-union sub-sample, using the estimated union wage structure, confirms the presence of structural differences between the union, and non-union segments of Ghanaian manufacturing: for given characteristics, a worker in the union sector earns more than a worker in the non-union sector.Geographical Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Management and Relations,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research

Is functional literacy a prerequisite for entering the labor market? An analysis of determinants of adults literacy and earnings in Ghana

The authors analyze the determinants of literacy and earnings in Ghana. They link literacy and earnings with various other factors, including age, gender, family educational background, distance to school, and income. Literacy and age are negatively correlated, suggesting that efforts to strengthen the supply and quality of basic education programs in recent years have succeeded in raising literacy rates. Parents'education is positively associated with literacy. Distance to the nearest primary school, residence in a rural area, and poverty are negatively associated with literacy. Functional literacy appears to be a prerequisite for entering the labor market, which may partly explain the lack of returns to education other than middle school and technical and professional training. The policy implications of this study: Basic education and literacy programs should target girls and poorer households, especially in rural areas.Access&Equity in Basic Education,Primary Education,Public Health Promotion,Curriculum&Instruction,Nonformal Education,Gender and Education,Curriculum&Instruction,Nonformal Education,Education For All,Primary Education

The Financial Crisis, Labor Market Transitions and Earnings: A Gendered Panel Data Analysis for Serbia

While results are starting to emerge, not much is known yet about the dynamics of the labor markets of the former Eastern economies, especially in the context of the current Financial Crisis. Arguably, this is mainly due to paucity of (panel) data. By examining labor market transitions, earnings levels, and earnings growth and their correlates using a recent panel data set for Serbia, this paper combines both of these issues. Estimation of gross transition probabilities reveals that females are disadvantaged in the Serbian labor market in terms of moving out of the two undesirable states, unemployment and economic inactivity, relative to males during the first year of the financial crisis – though males are harder hit than females in terms of the levels of unemployment. In terms of earnings, the picture is reversed, with females being worse off in terms of the levels of earnings, while they have experienced somewhat smaller earnings decreases than males (though, owing to the gender earnings gap, from a much lower base). Multinomial logit estimations of employment, unemployment, and inactivity transitions and OLS regressions of earnings and earnings growth reveal substantial gender differences related to individual, job, and firm characteristics. The overall results therefore hint at both males and females being hit in terms of employment and earnings, though in different ways. Finally, the paper discusses policy implications and provides suggestions for further research.financial crisis, gender, labor market flows, transition probabilities, earnings growth, panel data, Serbia

Multinational enterprises and training revisited: do international standards matter?

Several studies have examined the determinants of training in developing countries but only few have paid attention to the potential importance of international standards such as ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 on the firm's training decision. This paper examines training determinants using recent employer surveys for four developing countries, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco and Nicaragua. We find that ISO certification status is an important determinant of training, even after controlling for other characteristics such as workers'formal schooling, firm size, industry and foreign ownership. This points towards the importance of product quality and production standards for firm training. The paper also discusses policy implications related to the findings and provides directions for further research.Labor Standards,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Tertiary Education,ICT Policy and Strategies

Sector growth and the dual economy model - evidence from Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zimbabwe

The authors analyze and compare sectoral growth in three African economies - Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Zimbabwe - since 1965. They extend the classic dual economy - the agriculture and industry sectors - by adding the services sector. For all the three countries, they find at least one statistically significant long-run relationship for sectoral GDP. This indicates a large degree of interdependence in long-run growth among the three sectors. This also provides evidence against the basic dual economy model, which implies that a long-run relationship cannot exist between agricultural and industrial output. Analysis of the impulse response and analysis of short-run sectoral growth support the results on the interdependence of sectoral growth. Both imply that a positive link exists between growth in industry and growth in agriculture. Their findings contradict the literature on the dual economy - and suggest that more attention should be paid to inter-sectoral dynamics and dependencies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Why? Because an adverse shock in, say, agriculture after a drought is likely to have an adverse impact on the other economic sectors. Policymakers should try to accommodate not only the initial shock in agriculture but also its adverse effects in other sector. They find that focusing mainly on industry was not optimal policy in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. For maximum economy-wide growth, it would have been better to balance policies to include all three sectors: agriculture, industry, and services.Public Health Promotion,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Water and Industry,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Governance Indicators,Water and Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Achieving Shared Growth

Short- and long-term impacts of economic policies on child labor and schooling in Ghana

While the issue of child labor in developing countries has received increased attention in recent years, most of the empirical analysis has been based on one-time cross sectional samples. While this may give an idea of the incidence, and determinants of child labor at one point in time, it is silent about the dynamics of child labor over time, and sometimes may even influence policy choices against child labor adversely. This paper attempts to fill this void, analyzing the dynamics of child labor and schooling in Ghana, aiming at investigating the impact of broad economic reforms on child labor and schooling in the short, medium and long-run. Starting from a premise that the simple - direct - relationship between poverty and child labor, which has often been seen as the feature of child labor, may not adequately capture the multi-facetted nature of child labor, we find evidence of asymmetries in the child labor-poverty link, as well as quite complex dynamics in the evolution of child labor and schooling, and their determinants over time. Most notably, child labor is found to be responsive to poverty in the short run, but not in the long run, while child schooling is unaffected by poverty in the short run, but responds in the medium- to long run. These results suggested that child labor acts as an economic buffer of the household in the short run, regardless of changes in the economic environment, or perceptions of the latter, following economic reforms, thus supporting - and refining - the poverty explanation of child labor.Street Children,Environmental Economics&Policies,Youth and Governance,Children and Youth,Poverty Assessment

Revisiting the link between poverty and child labor - the Ghanaian experience

The link between poverty, and child labor has traditionally been regarded as well established. But recent research has questioned the validity of this link, claiming that poverty is not a main determinant of child labor. Starting from the premise that child labor is not necessarily harmful, the authors analyze the determinants of harmful child labor, viewed as child labor that directly conflicts with children's accumulation of human capital, in an effort to identify the most vulnerable groups. Identifying these groups might enable policymakers to take appropriate action. The authors estimate the positive relationship between poverty, and child labor. Moreover, they find evidence of a gender gap in child labor, linked to poverty. Girls as a group (as well as across urban, rural, and poverty sub-samples) are consistently found to be more likely to engage in harmful child labor, than boys. This gender gap may reflect cultural norms (an issue that calls for further research). The incidence of child labor increases with age, especially forgirls. In Ghana, there are structural differences - across gender, between rural and urban locations, and across poverty quintiles of households - in the processes underlying child labor.Street Children,Youth and Governance,Children and Youth,Poverty Assessment,Labor Standards

Changing norms about gender inequality in education : evidence from Bangladesh

Using a recent household survey for two cohorts of married women, this paper examines norms about gender equality in education for children and adults. Among the main findings are that gender education gap norms have changed: younger generations of women are more positive about female vs. male education, both as pertaining to child and adult education outcomes. Perhaps the strongest result is that Bangladeshi women are more likely to espouse attitudes of gender equality in education for their children and less so about gender equality among spouses. It is also easier to explain norms regarding children's education and more difficult to explain norms about equality in marriages. The authors believe that question on relative education of boys and girls captures the value of education per se, while the question on educational equality in marriage captures the norms regarding marriage and the relative worth of husbands and wives. The effect of education in determining norms is significant though complex, and spans own and spousal education, as well as that of older females in the household. This indicates sharing of education norms effects or externalities arising from spousal education in the production of gender education gap norms within marriage as well as arising from the presence of older educated females in the household. Lastly, the authors also find associations between gender education gap norms and household poverty, information processing and religion, though the evidence here is more mixed.Gender and Development,Population Policies,Primary Education,Gender and Law,Access&Equity in Basic Education

VIP: Incorporating Human Cognitive Biases in a Probabilistic Model of Retweeting

Information spread in social media depends on a number of factors, including how the site displays information, how users navigate it to find items of interest, users' tastes, and the `virality' of information, i.e., its propensity to be adopted, or retweeted, upon exposure. Probabilistic models can learn users' tastes from the history of their item adoptions and recommend new items to users. However, current models ignore cognitive biases that are known to affect behavior. Specifically, people pay more attention to items at the top of a list than those in lower positions. As a consequence, items near the top of a user's social media stream have higher visibility, and are more likely to be seen and adopted, than those appearing below. Another bias is due to the item's fitness: some items have a high propensity to spread upon exposure regardless of the interests of adopting users. We propose a probabilistic model that incorporates human cognitive biases and personal relevance in the generative model of information spread. We use the model to predict how messages containing URLs spread on Twitter. Our work shows that models of user behavior that account for cognitive factors can better describe and predict user behavior in social media.Comment: SBP 201