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Educational Expansion in Africa (1965–2010): Implications for Economic Inequality between Countries

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Abstract

Advocates of expanding global education herald it as “the best investment in development” but also “a great equalizer.” However, previous literature has almost exclusively focused on the role of education in shaping inequality within, rather than between, countries. Using data from Sub-Saharan Africa from 1965–2010, we ask two questions: (1) Did education work as an economic equalizer during that time period? (2) If so, which aspect (quantity vs. quality) was most influential? We rely on a decomposition method to elaborate our answers to these two questions. Our analyses of recent patterns in Africa confirm education as a very influential force, which accounted for nearly half of the trends in rising inequality occurring during the study period. As far as reducing GDP inequality among African countries over this study period is concerned, schooling levels were more important quantitatively (total effect), but school quality was more so qualitatively (direction of effect).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For effects on personal well-being, see, for instance , Martin (1995); Ross and Wu (1995); Card (1999); Dee (2004); and Musick, Brand, and Davis (2012). For effects on economic growth, see Romer (1989); Barro (1991); Sala-i-Martin (1994); Pritchett (2001); De Gregorio and Lee (2002); and Cohen and Soto (2007).

  2. 2.

    In 2010, the average number of schooling years was 5.34 in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 10.91 years in advanced economies (Barro and Lee 2013).

  3. 3.

    These measures are somewhat complementary: the MLD is most sensitive to inequality from the bottom of the education distribution; the Theil is most sensitive to inequality near the top; and the Gini is more balanced.

  4. 4.

    We repeated the same analysis assuming a five-year lag in the effect of education on productivity. Results (available upon request) are qualitatively similar to those presented here.

  5. 5.

    It has to be noted that a final term, the intercept or baseline productivity \( \left(\left[\varSigma \left(\overline{p_j{i}_j}-\overline{p_j}\right)\ast \varDelta \alpha \right]\right) \), was not considered here because it sums to zero.

  6. 6.

    We also carried out the analysis with the first approach (end-of-period data). Results (available upon request) are qualitatively similar.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue & Sarah S. Giroux

  2. Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Michel Tenikue

Authors
  1. Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue
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  2. Sarah S. Giroux
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  3. Michel Tenikue
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Correspondence to Sarah S. Giroux .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell Law School, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Muna B. Ndulo

  2. Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    N'Dri T. Assié-Lumumba

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Eloundou-Enyegue, P.M., Giroux, S.S., Tenikue, M. (2020). Educational Expansion in Africa (1965–2010): Implications for Economic Inequality between Countries. In: Ndulo, M., Assié-Lumumba, N. (eds) Education and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40566-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40566-3_3

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