Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/44460 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 11-008
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
In this paper, we examine how orphanhood affects children's educational and health outcomes in eleven sub-Saharan African countries. Our analysis is based on a comparison of orphans and non-orphaned children living under the same conditions. We also examine the impacts of various family structures and compare social orphans (non-orphaned children not living with a biological parent) to orphans. Using household fixed-effects estimation, we provide evidence that children not living with a biological parent lag behind in education and are more often malnourished and stunted. Educational gaps are particularly evident among orphans and social orphans not living with a mother. The effect of paternal death or absence is rather modest in most countries.
Subjects: 
Orphans
family structure
human capital
sub-Saharan Africa
fixed-effects
JEL: 
I12
I21
J24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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