GGeeoorrggiiaa SSttaattee UUnniivveerrssiittyy SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss @@ GGeeoorrggiiaa SSttaattee UUnniivveerrssiittyy Economics Dissertations 12-18-2013 EEssssaayyss iinn CChhiillddrreenn''ss TTiimmee AAllllooccaattiioonn aanndd AAggee aatt PPrriimmaarryy SScchhooooll EEnnrroollllmmeenntt Yared Seid Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/econ_diss RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Seid, Yared, "Essays in Children's Time Allocation and Age at Primary School Enrollment." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013. doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/4481472 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PERMISSION TO BORROW In presenting this dissertation as a partial ful(cid:12)llment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in his or her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his or her absence, by the Dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and must not involve potential (cid:12)nancial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential gain will not be allowed without written permission of the author. Signature of the Author NOTICE TO BORROWS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University Library must be used only in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Yared Seid 513 S Rays Rd Stone Mountain, GA 30083 The director of this dissertation is: Shiferaw Gurmu Department of Economics Andrew Young School of Policy Studies P.O. Box 3992 Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302 Users of this dissertation not regularly enrolled as students at Georgia State University are required to attest acceptance of the preceding stipulations by signing below. Libraries borrowing this dissertation for the use of their patrons are required to see that each user records here the information requested. Name of User Address Date Type of use (Examination only or copying) ESSAYS IN CHILDREN’S TIME ALLOCATION AND AGE AT PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT BY YARED SEID A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Ful(cid:12)llment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies of Georgia State University Georgia State University December 2013 Copyright by Yared Seid 2013 ACCEPTANCE This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Committee. It has been approved and accepted by all members of that committee, and it has been accepted in partial ful(cid:12)llment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies of Georgia State University. Dissertation Chair: Shiferaw Gurmu Committee: Mes(cid:12)n Bezuneh Rachana Bhatt Barry Hirsch Electronic Version Approved: Mary Beth Walker, Dean Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University December 2013 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor, Shiferaw Gurmu. His passion for economics, the depth of his knowledge, and his attention to details have always inspired me. This dissertation would not be possible without his invaluable guidance and suggestions. He has been a wonderful advisor and a caring friend. Working with him has helped me a lot to grow both professionally and personally. Rachana Bhatt and Barry Hirsch were also instrumental in bringing the dissertation to this point. They were extremely generous with their time, and their advices were indispensable. It has been a great pleasure and an honor to have them both as my teachers. I have also bene(cid:12)ted from a number of people who provided important comments and suggestions on this dissertation. I am thankful to Roy Bahl, Mes(cid:12)n Bezuneh, James Marton, and Felix Rioja for their helpful comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank participants in classes, brown bags, seminars, and conferences in which I have presented my work. I am grateful to the Department of Economics at Georgia State University for funding my graduate education. I am also grateful to faculties and staffs of the Department of Economics for their support and kindness throughout my stay in graduate school. Finally, my family, especially my mom, have been a constant source of joy and courage. None of these would be possible without their love and support. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my friends whose sense of humor has been a great emotional support. vii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : vi CONTENTS : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : vii LIST OF TABLES : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ix LIST OF FIGURES : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : xii ABSTRACT : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : xiii INTRODUCTION : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1 I. BIRTH ORDER AND CHILDREN’S TIME ALLOCATION : : : : : : : : 6 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.3 Theoretical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.4 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1.5 Empirical Methodology, Identi(cid:12)cation, and First Stage Estimates . . 22 1.5.1 Empirical Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.5.2 First Stage IV results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1.5.3 Validity of the Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 1.6 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 1.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 viii II. THE EFFECT OF ACCESS TO PRIMARY SCHOOL ON THE TIMING OF SCHOOLENROLLMENT:ANALYSISOFTHEETHIOPIANEDUCATION REFORM : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 42 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.3 The Education Reform in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 2.4 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 2.5 TheImpactoftheEducationProgramonAccesstoSchoolandPrimary School Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 2.6 The Impact of the Education Program on the Timing of Enrollment . 59 2.6.1 Conceptual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 2.6.2 Econometric Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.6.3 Econometric Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 2.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 APPENDICES : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 78 A. ESSAY 1 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 78 A.1 Technical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 A.2 Additional Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 A.3 Additional Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 B. ESSAY 2 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 89 B.1 Additional Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 B.2 Additional Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 BIBLIOGRAPHY : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 102 VITA : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 107 ix LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Fraction of Children Who Attend School and Participate in Child Labor 19 1.2 Summary Statistics of Variables used in the Econometric Analysis . 21 1.3 First Stage Regression Results from the Linear Model Dependent Variable: Number of Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 1.4 Fraction of Boys Who Attend School and Work by Number of Sisters 30 1.5 Birth Space (in months) by Proportion of Boys in the Household . . 30 1.6 Summary of Estimates of Coefficient and Average Marginal Effect of Birth Order from Different Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 1.7 Unobserved Effect Bivariate Probit Estimates of School Attendance and Child Labor Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 1.8 Linear Fixed Effect Estimates of Hours Students Spend Studying . . 38 2.1 Descriptive Statistics for a Sample of Children Who Were Enrolled in Grade 1 by Year and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 2.2 Enrollment Rate in Primary School (Grades 1-8) During the Year Be- fore the Education Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 2.3 Age at Enrollment by Treatment Group Before and After the Program 64 2.4 Difference-in-Differences Estimates of the Effect of the Education Re- form on On-time School Enrollment Dependent Variable: Binary Indicator for Enrollment in Grade 1 by Age 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67