Abstract
This chapter analyzes changes in the determinants of enrollment and student performance in Benin after the 2006 Free Primary Education policy (FPE) and simulates the magnitude of the impact on future wage differentials. Using municipality and household-level data, in repeated cross-section regressions, I find that the policy reduced the inequality of access to primary school by increasing the enrollment probability for traditionally disadvantaged groups, including girls, low-income groups, and the northern region populations. Further analysis suggests that inequality in education may have moved from access to quality of learning. Finally, simulations using Mincerian wage equations show an increase in wages with no worsening inequality. Taken together, the results suggest welfare improvements that may have important policy implications for developing countries.
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Somasse, G.B. (2020). Free Education, Schooling Outcomes, and Wages: An Inequality Analysis in Benin after the 2006 Free Tuition Policy. In: Ndulo, M., Assié-Lumumba, N. (eds) Education and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40566-3_4
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