TY - JOUR
T1 - Paying for education among households in Ghana
T2 - Is there any role for household resources and contextual effects?
AU - Iddrisu, Abdul Malik
AU - Danquah, Michael
AU - Quartey, Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Purpose: Using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper aims to take a critical look at issues relating to the demand for education in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: In doing this, the paper develops a model for the determinants of household’s educational expenditure using the full sample of data and an income-quintile disaggregated model of the determinants of household’s educational expenditures. The study adopts robust empirical estimation techniques to estimate the model. Findings: The paper finds that household resources importantly influence children’s educational expenditures with wealthier households spending proportionately more in educating their children than poorer households; large-sized households spend more in terms of educational expenses than small-sized households reflecting largely the quantity of education purchased, given that quality and contextual factors matters for educational investments. Strikingly, the findings show that female headship is a significant positive predictor of households’ demand for education. These findings provide valuable policy options relating to the goal of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting a lifelong learning by 2030. Originality/value: While literature on the determinants of households’ educational expenditures abound, very few of this literature focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, this study makes an important contribution to the literature by providing evidence on the determinants of households’ educational expenditure in the context of sub-Saharan Africa.
AB - Purpose: Using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper aims to take a critical look at issues relating to the demand for education in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: In doing this, the paper develops a model for the determinants of household’s educational expenditure using the full sample of data and an income-quintile disaggregated model of the determinants of household’s educational expenditures. The study adopts robust empirical estimation techniques to estimate the model. Findings: The paper finds that household resources importantly influence children’s educational expenditures with wealthier households spending proportionately more in educating their children than poorer households; large-sized households spend more in terms of educational expenses than small-sized households reflecting largely the quantity of education purchased, given that quality and contextual factors matters for educational investments. Strikingly, the findings show that female headship is a significant positive predictor of households’ demand for education. These findings provide valuable policy options relating to the goal of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting a lifelong learning by 2030. Originality/value: While literature on the determinants of households’ educational expenditures abound, very few of this literature focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, this study makes an important contribution to the literature by providing evidence on the determinants of households’ educational expenditure in the context of sub-Saharan Africa.
KW - Educational expenditures
KW - Ghana
KW - Household demand
KW - Human capital
KW - Sub-Saharan Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85020913077&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/IJDI-02-2017-0017
DO - 10.1108/IJDI-02-2017-0017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85020913077
SN - 1446-8956
VL - 16
SP - 214
EP - 226
JO - International Journal of Development Issues
JF - International Journal of Development Issues
IS - 2
ER -